A Black By Any Other Name
by rocketstar
Summary: Seraphina Parry's life was far from perfect. The Daily Prophet had revealed she was the niece of the recent escapee of Azkaban; Sirius Black. Seraphina was a Black, not by name and but by blood and with her uncle on the run she had to return to school with with everyone watching her every move, having to prove that she was only a Black by blood and not by name and nature.
1. Chapter 1

Sera Parry wearily gazed at her feet very much aware that several people along with their parents were whispering at occasionally pointing towards her as she attempted to say goodbye to her family. The new school year was about to begin and soon enough Sera would board the Hogwarts Express and be on her way back school about to start her fifth year at Hogwarts. Never in a million years would Sera ever imagine things going like this, her being scared and nervous to go back to school because everyone was pointing and whispering because they had discovered her deep dark family secret thanks to The Daily Prophet. Six weeks the mass murderer Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban, he was the first person to ever escape from the wizarding prison and as such there was a lot of attention on him. The Daily Prophet had printed numerous stories about Sirius' escape including a full profile on him which named his only immediate family left, his sister Talitha Parry née Black and her daughter Seraphina commonly known as Sera Parry. That was practically the end of everything normal in Sera's life as it was bad enough the aurors coming to her home late in the middle of the night to look for Sirius' and question them all about his escape and whereabouts. But the Daily Prophet naming her as the relative of a recently escaped mass murder had just ruined everything for Sera, she had always known that she was related to Sirius Black but now everyone else now knew that information hence all the staring.

"Just ignore them Sera." Nathaniel Parry, Sera's dad said in a reassuring manner as he caught sight of another person staring at them but Sera couldn't bring herself to force a smile for her father's sake. Everything was different, her whole world had changed and even though she had known this day was coming for a while know Sera wasn't ready for it. To herself and her family she was Seraphina Parry but to the rest of the wizarding world she was now Seraaphina Black niece to the infamous murderer Sirius Black.

"Easier said then done dad." Sera wearily replied, this wasn't how she expected the send off to school to be. Ever since she had heard about Sirius' escape there was always this constant fear at the back of Sera's mind, her uncle was a very dangerous man hence why he was sent to prison. No one really knew how Sirius had managed to escape or what he was planning to do but given his history Sera knew whatever her uncle had planned wasn't good.

"You can do this Seraphina, we know you can." Talitha, Sera's mother said and Sera was certain she could do this as it wasn't like she was hiding the fact that she and Sirius were related. Everyone was now aware that she came from the Black family on her mother's side, a family that was associated with the dark arts and put emphasis on blood purity. Sera's other uncle Regulus had been a death eater until he had been killed. Sera's mother was the normal once of Sera's maternal grandparents three children.

"You should have sent me to Beauxbatons or the Salam Academy of Witches whilst you still had the chance..." Sera grimly stated as since the news had come out about Sirius and her relation to him, Sera hadn't heard from any of her friends. Hell she didn't even know that she had any friends left after the big fat dirty family secret had come out. No parent would want their child to be friends with the girl who was related to a mass murderer who was on the run. Everyone assumed that Sera and her family were in on everything but the truth of the matter was that they had no contact with Sirius ever since he had been sent to Azkaban. Sera had just turned three years old when Sirius had killed all those muggles and been sent away, she couldn't remember at all and the only reason why she knew what Sirius looked liked because she had seen on the wanted posters with his face on, plastered everywhere.

"Not a chance! Seraphina! For goodness sake pull yourself together girl we've talked about this god knows how many times!" Talitha said once again brushing off the idea of sending Sera to another school. "Things won't be easy but you can do this, we call all do this. We will not let Sirius or all these people with nothing to do except gossip interfere with our lives. We have to rise above it and go about or lives as best as possible."

"Y-you don't think he'll come to Hogwarts, right?" Sera asked sounding more like a seven year old child afraid that a ghoul was roaming around the house, instead of the fourteen year old girl she was. Sera had this innate fear that Sirius would come to Hogwarts, although she had no idea where on earth that it had come from. It had been made all the more worse when she had heard the rumours that dementors, the guards of Azkaban would be patrolling the outskirts of the castle. They wouldn't be there if the Ministry didn't think that there was a chance that Sirius could turn up at the castle.

"Won't happen sweetheart." Nathaniel assured Sera but she couldn't quite believe her as whilst she knew that Hogwarts was heavily protected by charms and enchantments, Sera also knew that Sirius was the person to ever escape from Azkaban. If it was that easy for him to escape a heavy fortified prison, guard Azkaban and located in on some island in the middle of the north sea, then wouldn't it be possible for him to just as easily gain access to Hogwarts? Just thinking about that possibility made Sera's head hurt as practically anything was possible when you lived in a world filled with magic.

"Sirius won't come to Hogwarts, my brother has done a lot of stupid things but he's not stupid and I'm pretty sure he knows that if he sets one foot even if Hogsmeade then I'll kill him myself. He won't hurt you Seraphina, you'll be safe at school. The Ministry will find Sirius, it's only a matter of time." Talitha firmly stated and Sera could see the determination in her mother's grey eyes, the same grey eyes that Sera had curtsey of her mother's side of the family. Sera was almost a double of her mother with the long raven black hair, thick eyelashes and the clear grey eyes. Traits commonly found within the Black family, the only physical aspects that Sera got from her father's side of her family was her soft features in particular her straight edged shaped nose and the fact that blood purity wasn't the most important thing in her life.

"I probably should get going if I want to find somewhere to sit." Sera quietly said as she needed to find a compartment to sit in by herself on the train as no doubt she was going to be unwelcomed by most. Except for anyone in Slytherin, they were probably laughing their socks off that a Gryffindor was related to a mass murderer who practiced the dark arts and followed you know who.

"If you need anything at all Sera don't hesitate to get in contact us with us and remember you are never alone. We may not be with you but remember there are people at Hogwarts who love you and will look after you. Never forget that…" Nathaniel stated and before Sera could ask her father what on earth he had meant, he had pulled her into a hug before placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"Everything will be okay, it will all sort itself out, you'll see…" Talitha said and Sera felt slightly better as her mother tended to always be right about these kind of things, even when Talitha was occasionally wrong she was still right in some abstract way.

"I hope so…" Sera replied as she wearily glanced at the Hogwarts Express, it was time for her go and board the train to return back to school. Apart of Sera was scared as she didn't know what was coming her way, the fear of the unknown was gnawing at her stomach. It made Sera feel so nervous that she thought that she might even throw up but as her mother pointed out to her earlier, there was nothing for her to throw up given that Sera had skipped breakfast because she had felt so nervous about today.

"Be safe my darling girl, we will see you soon." Talitha softly said as she gently caressed Sera's cheek and Sera leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her mother's cheek before slowly backing away.

"Bye." Sera quietly said as she waved to her parents before turning around and boarding the Hogwarts Express, once she began walking down the vast corridor to find herself somewhere to quietly sit. As Sera walked, she walked past compartments on the passenger carriages that were starting to fill up and Sera was aware of people looking through the windows as she passed through them. There was also people in the hallway of the train corridors but taking her father's advice Sera just ignored them, well at least tried to the best she could as it wasn't going to be easy. Sirius escaping from Azkaban and going on the run had forever changed Sera's life and she wouldn't realize the extent to which it had until later on. Eventually Sera found came across an empty compartment and took it before anyone else could and she sat herself down by the window. It was going to be a long and lonely train journey back to Hogwarts and Sera had prepared for this. Well she had tried to prepare for the inevitable loneliness that came with being a social piranha but it was kind of hard to prepare for that. But Sara was well aware that thing had changed, people who she considered friends may not talk to her because of this whole Sirius thing. The fear of a mass murderer's niece walking around would probably tend to do that Sera thought to herself. Sera knew there weren't going to be all pleasantries, that people weren't going to welcome her with warm arms. But Sera told herself that she had every right to be here, she had done nothing wrong here. It was Sirius who had committed those crimes and not her.

"There you are!"

Looking to her left Sera was surprised when three boys all strode into the compartment with amused looks of the faces. Two of the boys were twins, with brown eyes, freckles and red hair that Sera would recognized from a mile off as the Weasley red hair was something that you couldn't miss, even if you tried. The last boy was a black boy with dark eyes and dark dreadlocks and Sera recognized them all as Fred and George Weasley and Lee Jordon, her fellow fifth year Gryffindors and perhaps still her friends.

"About bloody time you showed up Sera! We've been looking for you everywhere, almost had us thinking that you weren't going to show up." Fred stated and Sera was a bit gobsmacked by all of this, she wasn't exactly sure how to react to this. Three of her closest friends, who she hadn't heard from all summer were acting like nothing was wrong. The thought crossed Sera's mind that they hadn't hear but that had to be impossible, right? There was no way they hadn't heard about Sirius as it was like the biggest story in the country at the moment. Although it did sound like Sera was kind of tooting Sirius' own horn a bit, which she wasn't but still…

"Oh…" Sera began before deciding to tread lightly and try to make light conversation to see how far this went. "So how was your summer?"

"If you think we're going to talk about our summer holidays instead of the fact that Sirius Black is your uncle then you are sadly mistaken Seraphina." Lee said and Sera couldn't help but frown as she hated the full use of her name as George sat down next to her whilst Lee and Fred sat down on the seats opposite Sera.

"So your not mad about this thing with Sirius?" Sera slowly asked as she wasn't quite expecting the reaction she was currently getting from her friend. Call Sera bit non trusting of her friends but she had already made up her mind that her friends – including Fred, George and Lee who were literally her closest friends – would disown her. But no this wasn't the case, they seemed rather intrigued by the entire thing. It was very bizarre.

"Mad? We think it's bloody cool that your related to a mass murder!" George exclaimed and Sera couldn't help but laugh, only her best friends would think that her being Sirius' Black's niece was cool. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all…


	2. Chapter 2

Sera gave her friends a small smile as she exited their compartment in order to get changed into her robes as it wouldn't be long until they arrived at Hogsmeade Station. For the first hour or so of the train journey Sera was questioned or rather interrogated by her friends about her relation to Sirius and Sera gave them details albeit rather vague ones like she didn't mention that her other uncle was a death eater until he was killed. There was something you just didn't reveal to anyone outside your family, even if they were your best friends. Sera still couldn't quite get her head around the fact that her friends had been so relaxed about the entire things, joking about how everyone including the Slytherins would be scared of her incase she killed them or Sera got her good old Uncle Sirius to do the job about her. Fred and George wanted all the details and wanted Sera to tell them everything she knew about Sirius but Sera had to explain that she hadn't seen Sirius in twelve years given that he was arrested not long after she had turned three years old and neither Sera or her parents ever went to visit him. They had never talked about Sirius that often as it was easier that way. Eventually the subject moved on to the summer holidays and stories about the trip that the twins dad won for the entire family to Egypt which allowed them to visit one of their elder brothers.

Leaving the compartment gave Sera a chance to clear her head and gather her thoughts, she knew that despite how seemingly well her friends had taken the Sirius news others wouldn't. Hell even Sera hadn't been taking it well after the news of Sirius' escape had reached the Parry home. But Sera believed her mother when she said that Sirius would be caught, it was only a matter of time. After getting changed into her robes Sera started making her way back to her compartment when she ran into the last person who she really wanted to see right now; Draco Malfoy who was looking at her with the smuggest look on his face.

"Draco…" Sera wearily began, as bad as this sounded she had forgotten about Draco Malfoy, as hard as that was given that he was the self proclaimed prince of Slytherin not to mention the bane of every Gryffindors existence. But to Sera he was so much more than that as unfortunately for her Draco happened to be her second cousin. That was the problem about coming from a very large and pure blood family - especially one like _The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black_, - you had about a million relatives as most pure blood families were interrelated as most attempted to keep their bloodlines pure. Sera's mother's side of the family was pretty big and most of them were associated with Dark Arts. Sirius was a mass murderer and his brother Regulus was a death eater until he was killed and he wasn't the only one in my family. The amount of death eaters Sera was related to was astounding… Draco was Sera's second cousin as her mother was his mother's cousin, so unfortunately they were very familiar with each other. But at the start of Draco's first year they both chose to pretend like weren't related whilst they were at school, which suited both of them fine. As Sera didn't want anyone to know that she was related to the Malfoys and she was certain that the feeling was completely mutual. Just because the two of them were related, it didn't mean that they had to like each other.

"Seraphina." Draco replied with an amused tone of voice, he was predominately on a last name basis with everyone who wasn't in Slytherin. Except for Sera, the two of them addressed each other by their first names when no one was around but when there were others around they called each other by their respective surnames.

"Will you excuse me please?" Sera asked as Draco was currently in her way but even after she had politely asked her cousin to move, he just remained where he was. Normally Draco would just ignore her or maybe toss out an insult but for some reason he wanted something from her. "Okay I'll play along, so what do you want?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to see how the oh so mighty Seraphina Parry has fallen given that everyone is talking about you. All of that Gryffindor self righteous ego must have taken a blow when they realized they had a Black in their midst this entire time. If only they knew there was so much more, imagine the damage if more about you came out…" Draco sneered and Sera knew she should have seen this coming, of course Draco wasn't going to want to have a conversation to her, he just wanted to gloat at Sera's misfortune. To be frankly honest Sera wasn't even surprised in the lightest that Draco was threatening her as it was a typical thing for him to do. She would have been more surprised if he didn't threaten her. But whilst he was threatening her Draco had seemingly forgotten that he too was Black by his mother and if he wanted to threaten her then Seraphina could play that game too. After all she was a Black and being a cruel and spiteful person was most likely in her blood.

"Before you do that, you might want to consider this. If you start telling everyone stories about my side of the Black family tree, don't think I won't hesitate to mention some of my other beloved family members and I don't just mean my dear old Uncle Sirius Black. I wonder how all your Slytherin mates will react when they find out that you're related to a Gryffindor, _cousin_?" Sera sneered.

Draco visibly blanched; he prided himself on having a pure blood Slytherin legacy but having Seraphina; a Gryffindor as his cousin wouldn't be good for the reputation he's built up for himself. "Name your price."

"We both keep quiet, I don't mention that the two of us are related and you keep your mouth shut too. If you go around mentioning any stories about my family or Sirius or anything to do with the Blacks then I won't hesitant to mention your name. If I go down, I'm sure as hell taking you down with me Draco and we both know that the information that we both have is fairly damaging and you can only imagine the consequences of it, if it ever got out…" Sera firmly stated.

"Deal." Draco begrudgingly agreed, glaring at Sera with his sharp grey eyes.

Whilst the two of them were literally polar opposites, the one thing they shared was the same grey eyes that clearly came from the Black side of their families. But whilst Draco had cold grey eyes, Sera had always been told that she had bright and clear grey eyes. When she came into contact with her cousin Sera couldn't but dwell on the fact that the two of them were sort of the walking personifications of good and bad. Looking at Draco often scared Sera as he was a constant reminder of what she might have been if her mother was just like the rest of her family. She could have easily grown up supporting blood purity and the dark arts, having a self-righteous attitude and being arrogant enough to believe that muggle borns were useless. No doubt being sorted in to Slytherin and becoming the Slytherin princess. The thought of her life being like that was actually terrified Sera

"Good, nice seeing you again little cousin." Sera politely stated, gently moving Draco out of her way before walking away and heading back towards her compartment. But as she did Sera noticed that the lights on the train began to flicker and the train was slowing down which was very odd as judging from the windows, they weren't anywhere close to Hogsmeade Station. Then the train suddenly jolted and Sera knew something was seriously wrong and as she looked around she could see people sticking their heads out of their compartments.

"Sera?!"

Turning her head Sera saw Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley, Fred and George's youngest sibling make their way towards her and it was clear by the looks on their faces that they had no idea what was going on either. "Hey…"

"What's going on Sera? Why's the train stopped?" Neville asked.

"I honestly have no idea Neville…" Sera honestly admitted as not once since her duration at Hogwarts had the Express ever broken down or done anything like this. It wasn't possible given that the train was run on magic due to various charms so Sera had no clue as to what would have caused the train to suddenly stop. After Sera had suddenly spoken, things went from bad to worse as the lights suddenly went out and Sera could have sworn it sounded like someone had boarded on to the train which caused Ginny to let out a squeak. Grabbing Ginny's hand and Neville's cloack, Sera dragged the two of them along with her, navigating them all as bets she could into the darkness to the compartment where she could have sworn that she had seen Harry poke his head out of. In the dark Sera pulled open the compartment doors and accidently shoved Neville into the compartment before pulling Ginny in after her and shutting the doors.

"Whose that?"

"Hermione?" Sera asked recognizing the voice straight away.

"Sera?"

"Yeah, Ginny is also with me." Sera wearily replied.

"What the bloody hell is going–" Ron, another Weasley began.

"–Be quiet." Sera hissed as she could have sworn that she had heard something moving outside in the carriages, the air all around was cold which meant it was all the more possible to hear what was lurking outside. Sera knew well enough that it wasn't any of the other students. That was something definitely out there and it sounded like it was moving further up the train and Sera could feel the fear in her bones. Whatever it was, probably wasn't friendly and Sera wasn't going out there and she certainly wasn't letting anyone out of this compartment. She was the eldest out of herself, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny which meant she needed to look out for them and try and keep them safe even if she wasn't too sure what was out there. Silence engulfed them all and yet at the same time it was pretty loud, it was like Sera could the wheels in everyone's head spinning around as they tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Whatever was coming sounded like it was coming closer but then Sera could hear noises coming from behind her and when she turned to look she heard a soft crackling sound before the small compartment finally gained some light and Sera almost fainted at the sight of the person sitting calmly in the midst of all the chaos carrying the light that looked like flames. Remus Lupin. As in Remus John Lupin, old school chum of Sera's uncle on the run and her godfather? Sera forget about the current issue that was going on as all she wanted to know was what on earth was he doing here?

"Stay where you are." Remus stated as he slowly began to rise with his handful of fire but as he did Sera's attention drifted over to the compartment door that was slowly opening on it's own accord. Sera's brain momentarily froze as she saw a heavily cloaked figure standing in the doorway, which took a deep breath rattled breath. God knows why but Sera didn't dwell on it too much as she felt an intense cold sweeping over them all sending chills down her spine. It took a moment for her head to kick back into gear but once it did Sera's eyes widened in fear as she realized what the dark figure towering over them all actually was...

It was a Dementor. They were creatures who guarded Azkaban; the prison that her Uncle Sirius had just escaped from. Sera like most people hadn't seen a dementor in person, or at least up until now. They were nothing like she or her worst nightmares could possibly imagine and Sera tried her best not to look at it but it was kind of hard not. However it just made the entire situation more terrifying and Sera could feel her blood run cold in absolute fear. Sera had no idea what was going but she knew that she was scared, she felt incredibly scared not to mention to mention incredible sad and cold. She knew it had to be because of whatever the dementor was doing to them all, regardless Sera honestly felt like she was about to be scared to death. The fear, unhappiness and the cold all surrounded her until she heard something fall to the ground and Sera looked briefly to see Harry on the ground looking like he was having some kind of fit.

"I-I…" Sera stammered in shock, unable to form an actual sentence together.

"None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go." Remus said stepping over Harry's body to face the dementor without even a trace of fear, which Sera found to be very reassuring. She was glad someone here knew what they were doing. Holding out his want a bright light appeared from Remus' wand and within seconds the dementor was slinking out of the door.

Sera managed to let out something that sounded halfway between a sigh of relief and strangled cry. That had been the moments intense two minutes of her life although they seemed like longer and apparently the others felt the same. Ginny was cowering in fear in the corner and Neville was doing something that Sera wasn't too sure of what, whilst Hermione and Ron were busy on reviving Harry. Although Sera was concerned about her friend her brain was too busy being relieved that a). she had lived through something that terrifying and b). the dementors hadn't carted her off to Azkaban.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked and now awake Harry was sitting back to down on one of the benches in the compartment, looking very pale and like he was going to be sick any moment.

"Yeah," Harry wearily replied and Sera caught him quickly glancing towards the door. looking quickly toward the door. "What happened? Where's that - that thing? Who screamed?"

"No one screamed," said Ron and Sera couldn't help but look down at her feet rather nervously, she really didn't want to be here any longer. All of this was about Sirius which meant it would soon enough lead back to her. Sera hadn't even arrived at Hogwarts yet but already Sirius was causing her more than enough problems. It was one thing having aurors and ministry officials coming to her home at all hours of the day and then there was the pointing and staring that Sera received because of the whole situation but having dementors coming so close to her because they were looking for Sirius was just too much for Sera.

"But I heard screaming -" Harry insisted until there was a loud snap and Sera glanced over to see Remus breaking a huge slab of chocolate into pieces before handing over a huge piece of chocolate to Harry.

"Here, eat it. It'll help." Remus assured Harry and he wearily took the chocolate but he didn't eat it.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked and before Sera even knew what she was doing, she found herself answering Harry's question.

"A dementor, one of the many that guard Azkaban." Sera wearily replied and in that moment all eyes were on her, like they had forgotten that she was there and had only know just realized that the dementor was here because of Sirius and that Sera was related to him. Sera wasn't a mind reader but she could read people pretty well and to her it seemed like everyone was thinking that the dementor came to them because of her. The dementors were looking for a Black and they had found one, just not the one they were looking for. Sera glanced over at her friends before she quickly walked out the carriage, she couldn't be in there anymore she needed to get away and pull herself together.

"Seraphina!" Remus called out but Sera kept walking as she didn't want to talk to Remus or anyone, Sera just wanted to find somewhere dark and quiet so she could be by herself and avoid talking to anyone. No doubt everyone was going to find out what had happened and already Sera could see that all fingers were going to be pointing straight at her. "Seraphina Cornelia Parry, stop right now!"

"What Remus?" Sera asked when she finally stopped and turned around to face her godfather.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Sera firmly replied despite knowing that she was far from okay, she had been scared out of her damn mind and a part of her felt like she was going to pass out. But Sera told herself that she had to be strong, as her falling apart right now was a sign of weakness and she would not let Sirius or anyone else win.

"Seraphina your hands are shaking." Remus pointed out and looking down at her hands Sera could see that he was right as her hands were shaking rather uncontrollably so she bunched her hands together into fists. Sera told herself that it was just a delayed reaction to what was probably the most scary not to mention tarrying few minutes of her life. "It's okay Sera, everything is alright now."

"How is everything okay Remus? You saw what just happened! A dementor was on the train, it was mere centimetres away from my face and you saw what happened to Harry." Sera demanded as the fear was slowly disappearing only to be replaced with seething anger. "Mum and dad said Sirius wouldn't come to Hogwarts, that he wouldn't be that stupid but clearly the ministry must think he is coming here!"

Remus sighed, making him look older than he was. "Black has ties to Hogwarts and it's possible he may come here Sephy, the ministry is just being cautious, but no harm will come to you here, the dementors are here for your protection as am I."

"Do you think he's coming for me?" Sera couldn't help but ask.

"I can't say Seraphina as I have no idea but you have nothing to worry about as you will perfectly safe." Remus assured and Sera couldn't help but snort in disbelief. She hadn't even arrived at Hogwarts and already she wasn't even in one piece, Sera was sure some of her sanity had been taken during that encounter with the dementor.

"Is that why you're here?" Sera questioned Remus as she hadn't seen her godfather in a couple of weeks but it was clear by the look of his eyes that he too was worried about this Sirius situation. Remus had attended school with Sirius, they had been friends for years with Remus making sure Sirius didn't get into major trouble – hence why Sera's mother made him the godfather of Sera. But even the werewolf Remus Lupin couldn't keep Sirius Black out of trouble. After Sirius' was imprisoned Remus had remained a constant figure in Sera's life but never did she think that she would see him of all places and fending off a dementor attack right in front of her.

"Perhaps. I've also taken the post of Defence Against The Dark Arts." Remus revealed with a coy smile and Sera felt marginally better, at least now she was completely alone. She had someone on her side who knew the full truth about her family and didn't see her as Seraphina Black, instead Remus saw her as Sera Parry. Although he did have a tendency to call her Seraphina despite Sera repeatedly telling him that she preferred Sera only for Remus to reply that her preferred Seraphina. Knowing that Remus would be at Hogwarts with her was very reassuring.

"Congratulations, finally the best person actually gets the job." Sera quipped, forcing a smile on her face for Remus' sake as she was really pleased for him but she felt so empty and cold inside that a genuine smile or any sign of happiness from her was damn near impossible. That dementor encounter had really done a number on Sera.

"Thank you, now I must go and speak to the driver but if you need anything at all even if it's just for a cup of tea then you can find me in my office Seraphina." Remus politely informed her before excusing himself and turning around to head up the front of the train. Seraphina waited until Remus was out of sight until she unbunched her fists and saw that they were still shaking and looking out the windows until the dark of the night, Sera knew that this was only a beginning for a long year at Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3

Sera felt overwhelmed. She had only been back at Hogwarts for one day and already she had so much homework to do, there was several essays and readings to be done because Sera was now doing her OWLS. Sera knew things were only going to get more harder from here and she was certain that she'd been spending most of her time in the library studying this year. Despite Sera's grumblings about the increased workload she had, all the homework was a welcome distraction as news of what happened on the train had spread like wildfire. If Sera had thought things had been bad when she had been standing on the platform, but things were so much worse. The news that a dementor had come on to the train looking for Sirius Black but instead found Sera and had caused Harry to pass out. It was all too much to everyone who thought that Sera shouldn't have been able to return to Hogwarts and she was under so much scrutiny that she had been before. People seemed to think that Sera was responsible for the so called dementor attack and she wasn't sure what to think. Maybe she was responsible. Remus had tried in vain to convince Sera that she had nothing to do with the dementors coming into the carriage, that it was pure coincidence. But Sera wasn't too convinced. Apparently neither was everyone else as Sera could hear people talking about her and the dementor attack rather loudly whilst she sat and ate lunch. It was rather annoying as Sera could hear people talking about her as if she wasn't even there but she was and getting more annoyed by the second.

"I heard that she knew about Black's escape from the beginning!"

"Apparently the dementors are her because of her, to make sure that she doesn't try and help that uncle of hers! I couldn't believe it when I first heard it, Seraphina Parry related to Sirius Black. I bet that smug smirk of hers has been wiped off her face ever when the news that she was related to Black came out."

"I don't know why Dumbledore let her come back! She's only been here for a day and look what's happened!"

Finally having enough Sera pushed her plate away, grabbed her school bag and rose from her seat and walked over to the two girls who had been sitting behind her and gossip about her too loudly for Sera's liking. To her surprise Sera saw that the two girls were Maxine O'Flaherty and Heidi Macavoy, two members of the Hufflepuff qudditch team. Sera waited a moment before she loudly coughed to let the two girls know she was there and soon enough they turned around with aghast faces, no doubt shocked they Sera had decided to confront them. "If you have something to say, just say it to my face instead of whispering about me practically right behind my back like a coward."

"What are you going to do about it Seraphina? Call your Uncle Sirius?" Maxine questioned in mock horror.

"Or better yet, set your dementors on us?" Heidi taunted and Sera just chuckled, she knew she shouldn't rise to any of this but it was getting old very quickly and she decided to mess with their heads a bit. Teach the two girls a little bit of a lesson.

"You know what? That's not too bad of an idea, given that the dementor's kiss is supposedly one of the foulest things in this world. Apparently is worst then death. Personally I wouldn't know as I don't need other people to fight my own fight…" Sera sneered before turning away as she was done with the two of them and she had things do before classes resumed.

"Can't believe she's in Gryffindor, she should be in Slytherin just like that uncle of hers." Heidi stated and Sera turned on her heels to face and made her way back over to Maxine but before she could get towards them, someone else sitting opposite Maxine and Heidi stood up and Sera just grimaced. Standing up looking over at the three of them was a boy with dark hair, bright grey eyes that Sera knew very well along with his chiselled features as Sera's mother would say. Cedric Diggory was the last person that Sera wanted to see, she had been avoiding him for the last few weeks and had gone out of her way yesterday and today to make sure she didn't run into him. It was kind of hard when they were in several of the same classes but that didn't mean that Sera didn't try.

"Hey that's enough!" Cedric ordered and immediately both Maxine and Heidi looked away awkwardly before continuing to eat.

"Cowards…" Sera uttered, loud enough for both Heidi and Maxine to hear before turning around and finally walking out of the great hall. Glancing at her watch Sera saw that there was about fifteen minutes before lunch was over and Sera wasn't sure she would have time to go to the library and do the other things she needed to do before classes resumed. She had been moving very slowly all day due to fatigue because of a late night, it had taken Sera a good while to fall asleep last given the events of last night not to mention some of the girls in her dorm weren't thrilled to see her. Sera had received the frosty reception that she had been expecting and then some.

"Sera!" Cedric called out but Sera kept walking, she had places to be going and she wasn't in the mood to be having the conversation with Cedric that she had been avoiding for weeks. Sera continued to walk until she felt someone grab her hand and pull her back towards them. It was Cedric. "Seraphina, please…"

"I can't talk right now." Sera said in a hurried tone of voice as she tried to take back her hand but Cedric didn't seem to want to let go of it anytime soon and Sera didn't have the energy to keep fighting to get her hand back.

"You never responded to any of my letters."

"I've been busy." Sera wearily replied as that was kind of the truth, things had been pretty hectic and stressful over the last couple of months ever since Sirius had escaped from prison and there was no way she could put that in a letter. Even if Sera wanted to, she had no idea how she could even begin to explain all of this and at the time she had kind of been keeping her head in the sand. Wanting to pretend like none of this was happening despite being fully aware of what was going. It wasn't like she could have sent Cedric a letter that simply went; Hi how's your summer? I'm doing good although my uncle has escaped form Azkaban and just so happens to be the mass murderer Sirius Black. There were just some things that you couldn't put in a letter and besides the ministry had been watching Sera's entire families mail to make sure they weren't having any contact with Sirius.

"We need to talk Sera…" Cedric said.

"If you hadn't noticed Ced, I kind of have a lot on my plate at the moment and I have people on my back constantly. If it's not the ministry and the countless amount of aurors then it's everyone here who looking at me like I don't belong here and making those feelings very much clear every moment of the day." Sera sourly stated as she really did not feel like talking about this anymore, she just wanted a tiny moment of normalcy where no was talking about Sirius or dementors. Sera wanted things to be like they were a few months ago.

"Look about what happened with Heidi and Maxine just ignore them and I'm sorry that I didn't step in earlier but I'll deal with it later and make sure they don't give you anymore trouble." Cedric said giving Sera a small smile.

"I don't need any special treatment from you Cedric, I can fight my own battles with a prefect wanting to get involved just because you were my boyfriend–"

"–Were? Did we break up sometime over the summer and I completely missed it." Cedric interrupted in a half mocking kind of tone and yet kind of serious tone of voice. It was that playful and sweet manner that Sera adored and despite how standoffish it had an effect on her. It was breaking down the defensive front Sera was putting on towards everyone and she was trying her hardest not to smile.

"No?" Sera slowly asked as she had naturally assumed that given she had lost some friends because of this whole Sirius thing, she would probably lose her boyfriend too. Perhaps this wasn't the case and Sera felt a bit bad for all the avoiding that she had been doing because of all her assumptions. But in her defence no boy in his right mind would want to date the girl who was related to Sirius Black. Maybe she should have told Cedric about the whole Sirius thing but it was her deep dark secret and it was hidden away in her wardrobe for a reason. But now that dirty secret was out and Sera needed to deal with it.

"I didn't think so either."

"It's complicated." Sera spluttered out as she just needed to say something to Cedric about this entire situation. But the question was, where on earth would Sera begin? It wasn't a simple story and she couldn't tell him right here of all placed.

"I figured it was." Cedric replied and it caused Sera to laugh, she should have known better than to naturally assume that Cedric wouldn't want anything to do with her. But she hadn't been in her right mind as of later, Cedric didn't know practically anything but he hadn't made assumptions like everyone else. He was saying Sera the same kindness that she was used to from him and a seemingly unwavering loyalty – like a true Hufflepuff.

"I know I have a lot to explain Cedric but I really need to go, Professor Dumbledore wants to see me before the end of lunch." Sera wearily began. "No doubt about what happened yesterday…"

"I heard about that, are you okay?"

"I'll be needing my hand back Ced." Sera replied, completely avoiding Cedric's question as she really didn't know the answer to it and she was too exhausted to lie right now. It had been a very long day and it wasn't even over yet, there was still more classes not to mention the essays that Sera had to start. It seemed like she had been back at Hogwarts for weeks instead of the one day that Sera had actually been back for.

"Okay, just before you go I want you to know that I missed you this summer Seraphina

"I missed you too." Sera quietly replied slowly removing her hand from Cedric's grasp before leaving and making her way to the headmaster's tower where Professor Dumbledore's office was located. As Sera made her way to the tower she couldn't help but debate to herself the exact reason why the professor wanted to see her. No doubt it had something to do with Sirius but Sera was at a loss as so many people had spoken to her about many different things which somehow related back to Sirius. In the last couple of months Sera had learnt more about her errant uncle then she had in the last fifteen years. When she had arrived at the headmaster's office and had granted entry by the gargoyle who protected the tower. Standing outside the door to Professor Dumbledore's office Sera took a deep breath before knocking on the door and waiting.

"Come in!"

Wearily opening the door Sera stepped into the large circular office and briefly glanced at the vast amount of portraits of the former headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts. Dumbledore's office was huge and Sera could see several silver instruments on a number of spindly tables as well as countless amount of books. Sitting behind his desk was Professor Dumbledore looking seemingly relaxed and like he didn't have a care in the world. "You wanted to see me Professor?"

"Ahh Seraphina, thank you for coming." Dumbledore began and Sera smiled softly, when it came to Professors she never corrected them when they used her full name. "I thought it was imperative that we speak upon your return and I did want to speak to you last night but given the incident last night I thought it would be best to wait today to speak."

"Professor, I have no idea what happened last night on the train but I had nothing to do with the dementor and what happened to Harry." Sera began, the words coming out of her mouth literally like a train going 100mph. She was pretty sure she was here because she was about to get kicked out of school and Sera knew she was going to have to beg and plead to prevent herself from being expelled. Her mother was going to freak out when she got the news…

"Dear Seraphina, why would I ever think you would do such a thing?" Dumbledore announced and Sera was actually speechless and apparently she had been getting ahead of herself yet again and making unnecessary presumptions."

"Because practically everyone else thinks that as they all know that I'm related to Sirius. Some people think that I helped Sirius to escape from Azkaban and that I'm the reason why the dementors are here at Hogwarts. They think I'm just like him, I see and hear them talking about me and how they should have seen it earlier. I was told today that I should be in Slytherin just like Sirius…" Sera wearily stated.

"As memory serves Sirius was in Gryffindor as well." Professor Dumbledore pointed out and Sera slowly nodded her head, she was well aware of this fact. As her and Sirius were the only two in their family not to be sorted into Slytherin. It came as a real shock to everyone. It was something that separated Sirius and Sera from the rest of the Black family.

"I know that, but it doesn't really matter does it Professor? Sirius may not have been in Slytherin but he still turned out like the rest of my family, as black to the core just like the rest of them." Sera spat in disgust.

"What about your mother Seraphina? Talitha Black was in Slytherin and one of the best and brightest students Hogwarts have ever seen and I think you'll agree that she is one of the exception to the rest of them as you say." Dumbledore reminded Sera.

"Parry or Black, you are still the same girl that you are now Seraphina.

"It's not fair, I don't mean to sound like brat or a whiny child but this isn't fair Professor Dumbledore. I didn't do anything, I haven't seen Sirius in over twelve years and yet everyone is acting like I helped him kill all those muggles. I was a child when he was sent to Azkaban and since then we haven't had any contact with him but no one cares about that. They don't care about the truth, all they know is that Sirius is my uncle and he's out on the run and they naturally assume that I am involved. I know I'm a Black but I am not Seraphina Black but no one cares, they just see me as a Black and nothing else…" Sera sadly said as she walked closer to Dumbledore's desk and she was surprised when Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes flew over to the end of the desk and hesitantly Sera raised a hand and gently stroked the beautiful creature.

"A wise man once wrote somewhere a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Dumbledore told Sera and she recognised that from somewhere and it took her a few moment to recall where she knew it from.

"William Shakespeare, right? It's a quote from his play Romeo and Juliet…" Sera guessed realizing that she was right when Dumbledore smiled a broad smile at her, no doubt impressed that she knew of muggle literature.

"Correct and I believe that it's rather fitting towards you Seraphina, regardless of whether you carry the surname of Black or Parry, it has no baring on the person that you are. I have been aware of the truth surrounding your heritage and that has never influenced my opinion of you in the slightest. There may be some who will unfortunately keep a distance out of an unnecessary fear. B ut remember Seraphina there are those who I suspect have already proven their unwavering loyalty to you, if I'm correct a certain Mr. Diggory is still sweet on you." Dumbledore assured Sera who could feel her blush ting pink at the mention of Cedric, she had no idea the Professor Dumbledore even knew about that.

"I was worried about coming back, thinking that I wouldn't have anyone but I do. People who I considered friends won't talk to me anymore and a lot of people are too scared to talk to me fearing I have Sirius hiding under my cloak. It's been hard since this whole Sirius thing started but it's not going to get easier but I know I have my parents and my real friends here." Sera replied with a small smile.

"Not to mention Professor Lupin, I believe that Talitha and Nathaniel names him your godfather not long after your birth."

"That's correct Professor, I was surprised to see him on the train yesterday but I'm glad he's here. Remus– I mean Professor Lupin is one of the few people who knew the absolute truth and I'm glad to have someone I know personally around at a time like this. Professor Lupin is a very good teacher, we're very lucky to have him this year Sir." Sera politely replied as Fawkes gently nipped at her finger causing her to smile.

"That we are Seraphina… Has Professor Lupin talked to you about–" Professor Dumbledore began, knowing that he didn't need to finish his sentence, as Sera knew what he was referring to and that was Remus lycanthropy and she carefully nodded her head. "Very good, now as you are the only student to be aware of this because of personal reasons I wanted to inform you that the rest of the staff have been informed."

"We've always kept each other's secrets and even though mine is now out in the open, I will still keep his. We both know what people are like and are very much aware of the world that we live in and all the prejudice that people face." Sera replied and Professor Dumbledore just smiled at her.

"Black? Who dares speaks the name of the most noble house of black." A loud voice demanded in a sarcastic manner.

"Hello Phineas, I was just having a nice conversation with your great-great-great granddaughter, if you'd like to add something." Dumbledore said and Sera just frowned, it had been a long morning and now she had to deal with one of her insane relatives. Phineas Nigellus Black was Sera's great-great-great-grandfather on her mother's side of a family and a former Headmaster of Hogwarts. Which would have been cool, if he had not been described as the worst head teacher that Hogwarts ever had but then again Phineas could be considered one of the semi decent ones as most of Sera's family was made up of Death Eaters, supporters of the dark arts and pure blood fanatics. Phineas died sixty-eight years ago but like all headmasters/mistresses of Hogwarts his portrait lies in the headmasters office if their guidance is ever needed but he also has at Sera's grandmothers family home.

"Ahh… Little Seraphina the Gryffindor just like her uncle, my good for nothing great-great-grandson." Phineas noted with an obvious amount of disdain which didn't surprise Sera as from what she already knew, like the majority of the Black family he wasn't very nice but she was oddly fond of him. "You look like him, you know."

Sera knew that wasn't a compliment in the slightest and so she wearily nodded at the insult. "Most people say I look like mum, everyone tells me it's the dark hair and grey eyes which are common traits found within my mother's side of the family, but you'd know that best Phineas…"

"Indeed you have the beauty of your mother but it's that twinkle in your eyes Seraphina, don't you agree Albus?" Phineas replied with a small chuckle and Sera could not help but grimace, further comparisons between her and Sirius was not something she wanted. It was bad enough just sharing a surname with him. "I could always tell when Sirius was up to something he shouldn't be, which is why I wasn't surprised when his mother finally kicked him out. None of Walburga's children turned out at all decent…"

"Now Phineas." Professor Dumbledore warned.

"Poppycock Albert, I'm just catching up with my great-great-great-granddaughter who I haven't seen since she was a small child! Now how's your mother Seraphina? Still married to that pure-blood Parry?" Phineas questioned and Sera could see this was leading back to typical Black family conversation.

"Yes."

This barely seems to please Phineas, not that Seraphina particular cared about what he thought given that technically he was dead. "Well I suppose that's something…"

"I think perhaps that this would be a good time for you to take your leave Seraphina, your afternoon classes will be starting soon." Professor Dumbledore advised and not waiting to be told again she began to head towards the door. "Seraphina?"

"Yes Professor?" Sera asked as she turned back around.

"What happened last night wasn't your fault, the dementors didn't come because you were there." Dumbledore said in a warm and comforting manner and Sera was slightly taken aback as she hadn't mentioned this was and yet Dumbledore somehow seemed to know that Sera had internally and externally blaming herself for what happened.

"Goodbye Professor, bye Phineas…" Sera said bidding goodbye to the professor and her rather odd relative before she left Dumbledore's office. These last two days had been mentally and physically way in more than one way. Sera had endured so much and she felt scared all the time, even more so after the encounter with the dementor. But now Sera felt slightly better she knew she wasn't alone, she had people here who didn't care about who she was related to. She may be a Black but Sera wasn't going to let that define her.


	4. Chapter 4

Sera stood in the middle of the wooden bridge and eyed the scenery, it was a beautiful day and Sera was glad to be outside and not stuck inside in classes or writing some kind of essay. The last few days had been very intense and that was without Sera adjusting to being back at school, she had been back at Hogwarts for just under a week and now she was finally getting somewhat settled and into a routine. Sera now knew where she stood with a lot of people, she had lost a few friends over this Sirius situation including two girls who were in her dormitory and that was okay. Sera knew people were entitled to their own opinions even if they were wrong but at least Sera knew who her real friends were, they were the people who stood by her and pretty much treated her the same except for the occasional Sirius joke. But Sera could handle that along with everything else that people here wanted to send her way the best she could. She had done nothing wrong after all and she wasn't going to let being the niece of Sirius Black define who she was as Sera was more than that. Sera continued to stare at the scenery until she felt a hand on the small of her back and looking to her right, Sera saw Cedric had arrived, looking at her with a small smile. The two of them had agreed to meet here as to be away from eavesdroppers and prying eyes as Sera couldn't seem to get any peace or privacy in most parts of the castle. Even in the library and classes Sera couldn't escape any of it.

"Hey…" Sera softly began as she glanced over at Cedric who was looking at her with a small smile, no doubt wanting Sera to feel safe and not feel pressured into revealing anything about her family unless she wanted to do. Which is why Sera was here, she wanted to share part of her family history with Cedric to make him understand things weren't as simple as people made it out to be. The whole summer Sera had avoided talking to him, revealing that she was related to Sirius Black until it was too late. Now everyone knew and the only thing Sera could do was tell her side of the story. She felt like she needed to make Cedric understand the reality of it all and not what people were making up for their own entertainment and gossip.

"Hi Sera…" Cedric replied, giving Sera a smile that had sent her stomach upside down ever since she was twelve years old and started to take notice of boys specifically Cedric. To Sera, Cedric was the only boy worth noticing, it may have been due to the fact that their fathers were old school friends and been letting her and Cedric play together since they were small infants and had been dating each other midway way through their fourth year, They knew each other inside out for the most but now Sera was telling Cedric her deepest and darkest secret, that not even Fred and George, let alone anyone else outside her family knew. Except Remus but he was an exception as he was practically family to Sera.

"You're going to have to ask me because I don't know where to begin to tell you the truth…" Sera wearily stated as Cedric came and stood right next to her and placed his left hand right over Sera's right hand.

"Sirius Black is your uncle…" Cedric began and Sera sighed as things weren't that simple for her. For Cedric to even try and understand even a tiniest bit of this, Sera knew she had to explain from the beginning, she wouldn't tell him everything but just the relevant things. As there was some things about her family that Sera refused to accept and even acknowledge. There were dark secrets in the Black family.

"The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black is one of the oldest and wealthiest wizarding families in Britain and they can trace their origins back to the middle ages. My mother was born Talitha Black and she was the eldest of three siblings born to Orion and Walburga Black, followed by Sirius and their younger brother Regulus. Thus making me a Black by birth…" Sera began with a sigh. "I had just turned four when Sirius was arrested and sent to Azkaban and I don't have much memories of that time but I can remember my mum crying one day and my dad told me that it was because Uncle Sirius had gone away. My mother adored her brothers, my Uncle Regulus died when I was two and Sirius was arrested two years later and it broke my mother's heart. The three of them weren't the closest and they were different but my mother loved them both so much. According to my dad, mum was in shock for days over Sirius' arrest as she claimed it was so unlike him. But I guess she didn't know him too well if the mischievous boy she apparently knew so well murdered thirteen people including twelve muggles."

"Why did you never tell me about this?" Cedric questioned and Sera looked at him uneasily before moving to the other side of the bridge, all of this was making her feel rather uneasy. This was stuff that she hadn't spoken to anybody about in years so taking this trip down memory lane with Cedric was making Sera feel very exposed and she did not like the feeling out all. Sure she had opened up to Cedric, he was her boyfriend and they talked constantly and knew rather a lot about each other. But this was different, Sera was opening up fully to him now about the dark stuff in her life which she would have preferred if Cedric would have never found out about but Sirius escaping from prison had changed all of that.

"Why do you think? I'm related to a mass murderer Cedric, that's not something that you tell people even your boyfriend. We never talk about Sirius and even if we do, we don't talk about him for long as it's just unsettling and it upsets mum. There are pictures in the house of me with Sirius and I've looked at them and I can't believe what I'm seeing. I can barely even recognize Sirius in the pictures because of the seemingly happy and cheery façade he has on and all I can see is monster he is. What Sirius did changed everything and it was easier for my parents to ignore it all and just get on with our lives. Sirius wasn't even a pausing thought for me as whilst I was aware of where he was, Sirius was of little relevance or concern to me–"

"Until he escaped." Cedric finished and Sera grimly nodded, Sirius had practically ruined Sera's life for the second time the day he had escaped from Azkaban.

"We got word from the ministry before the news became public and before I knew it there were several aurors in the house, questioning all three of us and searching the house to see if they could find any trace of Sirius. I didn't really know how to react at first but then the panic set in as no one has escaped from Azkaban before. We had no idea how Sirius had done it or what he was doing but given his previous actions, the aurors told us we should be worried. Then the story in the Daily Prophet came out and named me as Sirius' niece. I didn't write to you this summer because I didn't know what to say to you how to explain all of this to you. I was ashamed that my dirty little secret had come out and would changed everything and it has. But most importantly I was scared of how you would react, what you would say to me so I just ignored you. I thought by doing that and telling myself that it was over between us, it would save it hurting less when you actually got round to breaking up with me. As what person would want to date me after finding out who I'm related to…" Sera admitted.

"I'll be honest here and admit that I was shocked when I found out that you were related to Sirius as I never saw that coming. But I was more hurt that you just chose to ignore all the letter that I had sent to you over the summer." Cedric stated and now Sera felt incredibly guilt and as such she started to lightly pace a short distance of the bridge. It was something that Sera tended to do when she was anxious and it drove her mother crazy. But Sera had to do it to get the energy that she worked up out of her and it also helped her clear her mind at the expense of her mother's expensive rugs which tended to take the brunt of Sera's pacing.

"Cedric, everything was complicated during simmer and it is still is and I know it was the wrong thing to do but I didn't know what to do. My life is so complicated right now and I have no control over any of this and it's just getting worse. I don't know what I'm doing half the time…" Sera stated continuing to pace until Cedric walked over to her and took Sera's hands and forced her to stand still.

"I can't imagine what you're going through but I want to be here for you Seraphina, that is all I have ever wanted." Cedric explained and Sera could feel her heart soar as she had no idea what on earth Cedric saw in her in the slightest. "You being related to Sirius hasn't changed anything for me because it's not him I'm dating, it you Sera. I know things have been hard with people talking about you constantly and what happened on the train but I'm here Seraphina. I know that you have nothing to do with any of that. Sirius may have escaped from prison but your not to blame, it's not your fault that your related to a murderer but everyone has that weird relative whose the black sheep. Yours just happens to be Sirius Black…"

"Sirius is not an isolated case…" Sera wearily admitted as she hadn't explained things all too greatly about the Black, all Cedric thought was that Sirius was her only weird relative. But that was not the case, Sera had countless numbers of weird relatives and some of them made Sirius look kind of normal.

"What are you talking about Seraphina…" Cedric asked and Sera avoided his gaze as she slipped her hands out of his and took a couple of steps back.

"My mother's other brother, Regulus? He was a death eater and was killed by on the orders of you know who when he was only eighteen." Sera quietly said.

"A death eater?" Cedric slowly questioned and Sera slowly nodded her head.

"Yep and he's not the only one, the Black family is pretty vast and Regulus wasn't the only death eater. The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black isn't exactly the most noble of wizarding families as most of them are obsessed with blood purity. My mother's side of the family is a notable pure-blood family and they believe that being a Black was practically a sign of royalty… The family motto Tourjous Pur means always pure and a lot of them take it very seriously. Not everyone is a death eater but they believe in blood purification and using the dark arts and if you do anything to put shame on the family then your disowned. Sirius isn't the only monster I'm related to Ced…" Sera quietly stated.

"Sera–"

"–I'm not like them Cedric. I'm not, I swear to you… I may be a pure blood but I don't care about any of that. I couldn't care less whether I was a muggle born or a half-blood. Mum grew up with that every single day of her life but she never agreed with any of that. She was sorted into Slytherin like most in our family and she didn't turn out like any of them, she was different. My grandparents always made sure mum knew that she had to marry a pure blood. It didn't matter whether or not she loved the man, all that mattered was his blood purity and keeping the family line pure. My father is the love of my mother's life but she didn't fall in love with him because he was a pure blood. She married him because she loved him and then when I came along, mum didn't me to be around her family's bigoted views. She didn't want me to believe that I was better than everyone else because I was a pure blooded Black so she's kept me a safe distance away from them all. But that doesn't seem to matter anymore as people believe that I'm just another Black. I need you to believe me Cedirc." Sera said as she could feel a huge lump in her throat and she was trying to stop the tears stinging the corners of her eyes and threatening to fall.

"Seraphina I know who you are, I have always known who you are and you may be a Black but you are not one of them. I believe you." Cedric assured Sera as he took a couple of steps forward and gently he lifted his hands up and wiped away Sera's tears. He had no idea how much what he had said meant to Sera, Cedric just seemed to make things better with only a few words.

"I'm scared Cedric. I am always scared and even more so after what happened with the dementor. People are blaming me for what happened and tell me that I'm just like Sirius and I don't belong here. Professor Dumbledore said he knows I did nothing wrong but I can't help but worry that I may turn out like the rest them. My family history is against me as practically everyone in my family has turned to the dark arts." Sera croaked out.

"But you also said they were all in Slytherin." Cedric pointed out.

"Sirius was in Gryffindor and look how well he turned out." Sera scoffed or rather attempted to, as she had to choke back a tear.

"Oh… Then take your mother, she may have been a Black and sorted into Slytherin but as far as I know she doesn't practice the dark arts and you said yourself that she doesn't believe in this blood purity nonsense and neither do you Sera. You are not like them Seraphina and you won't end up like them, you may be a Black but your also a Parry. If you can't believe that your different from the rest of one half of your family then let me do it for you Seraphina." Cedric stated and Sera was definitely crying now.

"C-Cedric…"

"This has been a lot, more than I had expected to hear and then some and it'll take some time to sink in but it doesn't change anything for me Sera. You have done nothing wrong and I hate the fact that you feel so guilty about things that you had no control over. You probably know better than most that you can't pick your family and despite who your family are I haven't seen anything that suggests that you're like them. You' In fact you the opposite of what you say they are Sera. You are still the same girl who my heart has always belonged to since we were kids. It's not your family I want to be with, but you." Cedric stated as he framed Sera's face with his hands and gazed into her eyes and Sera could feel her heart about to leap out of her chest. She had no idea what on earth she had done to deserve someone like Cedric who had accepted her for who she was, even with the family she had.

"People won't like this, they won't like us being together. I'm a social pariah whose related to a murderer on the run Ced and you're the golden boy of Hufflepuff." Sera quietly said as she had point out the glaringly obvious as she wasn't the worlds most popular person at the moment and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. Practically the whole school had turned against her and she had been prepared for that before she had come back to school. Cedric on the other hand? Not so much.

"I don't care and neither should you Seraphina"

"I know and I'm trying to ignore everything that is said about me but I don't want you to be effected by all of this. I can handle everything people send my way but I don't want you to face that as you've done nothing wrong. I don't want me to be some kind of downfall for you Ced after everything you've achieved." Sera admitted, taken back by Cedric quietly laughing and she figured that Cedric had either lost his mind or was finally realizing how messed up this situation was and finally coming around to his senses. But apparently it was neither, Sera finally caught on to the fact that Cedric was just laughing at her which he tended to do a lot as apparently she tended to do a lot of things that made him laugh. Even if it wasn't a funny situation. But that didn't matter too much to Sera as Cedric could laugh at her all he liked if it meant that he believed that she wasn't like the rest of the family and still wanted to be with her.

"If anyone has a problem with me dating you then it'll be more their problem then it will be mine."


	5. Chapter 5

Sera quietly put two teaspoons of sugar in her cup of tea and stirred the tea slowly for a few moments before taking the teaspoon out and placing it on the side of the saucer. She was having afternoon tea with Remus, one of many tea's they were going to have once a week during this year to allow them to catch up with each other outside the classroom. So far Sera had only seen Remus whenever she had defence against the dark arts as she wanted to give him time to settle in and find his bearing as a professor. Not to mention Sera had been dealing with her own stuff too but now she could catch up with Remus without having to call him Professor whenever she needed to talk to him. Sera couldn't help but smile at her godfather as whilst Remus generally looked older than his mere thirty three years of age because of the stress and toll his transformations took on his body. Right now Remus looked as young as Sera could ever remember him being except for his premature wrinkles and the scars across his face from when he was attacked by a werewolf. Instead of looking exhausted like Sera usually saw Remus, instead he liked wide awake and very much happy and there was the small twinkle in his eyes that Sera hadn't noticed the day she had her first lesson with him as her Professor. It warmed Sera's heart to see her godfather so happy as Remus was one of the kindest men that she knew, next to her father of course. Sera liked seeing him so happy and content and doing a job he clearly loved given that it was hard for Remus to find a job because of his status as a werewolf.

"You seem a lot happier than you've been recently Seraphina, I haven't you smile that beautiful smile of your in a good while. I'm glad to see it again…" Remus stated as he broke off pieces of the honeyduckes chocolate that Sera had brought with her and placed some in a plate on his desk. Remus was sort of a secret chocolate addict and whenever Sera saw Remus she tended to bring a bar of honeydukes best chocolate with him as she knew it was a comfort to him when he was recovering from after a full moon.

"I know, I've stopped being in that horrid mood I've been in since late July. I feel very much cheerful despite the circumstances but I am taking a leaf out of my father's eternal book of optimism. Being angry and annoyed all the time isn't helping me or doing any good so I figured why bother anymore? I might as well try and be happy…" Sera idly noted.

"What's brought about your sudden change in mood Seraphina?" Remus questioned before talking a sip of his tea.

"Several things but mainly Cedric." Sera allowed herself to admit, Remus was one of those people who Sera could tell anything to accept that she didn't. Whilst she could talk to her godfather about anything, she tried to not talk about Cedric with him too much given that it was a bit weird not to mention she only really talked to her mum about her relationship with Cedric.

"Ahh the boyfriend of course, I should have known…" Remus quipped in a jokingly manner and Sera couldn't help but smile, Remus had a very good sense of humour when he wasn't incessantly worrying about something that he needn't been worrying about. Remus' job as her godfather was to offer her guidance when she needed some and Sera saw her job as Remus' goddaughter to get him ease up a bit more and have some fun. Given that Remus tended to act a lot older then he actually was and sometimes Sea couldn't believe that Remus had only been seventeen when she had been born and named as her godfather.

"You sound just like my mother when you said that Remus, she seems to think Cedric's in love with me…" Sera lightly noted with a small scoff.

"I don't doubt it." Remus retorted and Sera wasn't sure how to respond to this but she still found herself smiling at this. Personally she didn't think that Cedric was in love with her but it was a nice enough thought. The two of them were only fifteen respectively, they were young teenagers and there was still plenty of time for them. Falling in love was joining to happen eventually or it was right round the corner. Sera wasn't in any real rush.

"That boy is something else Remus, I thought he was going to break up with me over this whole Sirius thing but apparently not. None of that seems to really matter with him, even when I told him about everything else and my insane family he still wants to date me. Took me completely by surprise…" Sera noted.

"You told him everything?" Remus questioned, putting his cup of tea down and Sera could see her godfather's eyebrows rise in surprise as Sera wasn't exactly the sharing type. Most of the time she liked keeping things to herself so she could understand Remus' concern but Sera waved them off as it wasn't as bad as what Remus was thinking.

"Not everything, just enough about my immediate family and the fact that my mother's side of the family is pure blood maniacs and I may have mentioned Regulus being a death eater. But I didn't mention you because I respect your privacy and I certainly did not mention the Lestranges or the Malfoys. I know I probably shouldn't have given how messed up everything is. Cedric won't say anything, he's one of those people who doesn't speak unless he has to and he would never betray my confidence. I just needed to talk to someone outside of this all, I wanted to get my side of the story all out and have someone just listen and that's what Cedric did Remus, he listened."

"Seraphina…"

"I feel better now Remus, I don't feel angry or high strung anymore and that I don't need to have to fight back and try like hell to defend myself about what everyone else is saying. Today in potions people were talking about me when I walked in and Professor Snape took ten points from Gryffindor because of something along the lines of me being arrogant in his class room and having Sirius Black mentioned in his class and I laughed. Well I snickered under my breath because in a weird way it felt good. I don't want to focus on what other people think because they don't matter to me. I have you, mom, dad, Cedric and the friends who haven't abandoned me over this Sirius. You guys are the ones that matter to me and that's all that important." Sera explained as she didn't want to waste her energy fighting against people and trying to prove something to them. She just wanted to spend time with the people who mattered to her.

"I have always trusted your judgement Seraphina and if you say that Cedric can be trusted then I believe you, I know that this entire ordeal has been hard for you but your strength throughout this has been admirable."

"No it hasn't but I'm trying." Sera retorted. "Having you all here and having so much faith in me has really helped, even Professor Dumbledore has helped when I went to his office the day after we arrived. Also ended up having a conversation with Phineas' portrait last night too…"

"And how did that go?" Remus asked with a small chuckle, as he knew very well how diverse and interesting Sera's mother's side of the family were.

"As well as you think, he's still off his rocker and sprouting off all that Black family dribble, mentioned how similar I look to mum even asked me if mum was still married to _that _pure blood but apart from that he seems fine. Actually miss having him around, if you can believe that… " Sera admitted with a small shrug of her shoulders. Half of her couldn't believe that she was actually saying that about Phineas but he wasn't too bad in short doses.

"The Blacks certainly have a flair for the theatrics, that I know…" Remus idly noted

"A flair? Remus you have met my mother, right? Talitha Black, knows as Talitha Parry these days, rather eccentric woman with piercing grey eyes that can stop any person in their step. She is the mother of me not to mention coming from a while family of nut jobs, I think that last point speaks for her character alone. " Sera joked but half being serious but truthfully she loved her mother very much Black or no Black, she turned out to be one of the good ones in her family. "But enough about me, I want to hear everything about your new job Professor Lupin."

"I think it's going well." Remus vaguely replied and Sera waited for him to expand but he didn't say anything else instead Remus just took a sip of his tea.

"Well? Remus when are you going to stop being so modest? Trust me when I say it's okay to be a little boastful at sometimes especially when you deserve the credit! You are a brilliant teacher Remus and this is not me being bias because I've known you every single day of my life and experienced first hand how much of a good teacher you are. Everyone else is already saying that you are the best defence against the dark arts teacher we've had in years!"

"I wouldn't go that far Seraphina."

"I would Remus, if you just take a look back at the previous professors we've had in the last two years. Lockhart didn't know crap all and just stole from other wizards and erased their memories and took all the credit. Quirrell went from teaching muggle studied to defence against the dark arts and whilst I admit he knew the theoretical stuff well, there is only so much theory you can do in a subject like this. You've been here for just under two weeks and already you've done so much and made defence against the dark arts so much more interesting…" Sera stated in an effort to try and convince Remus to take some credit for his good work, but halfway through she ended up noticing that there was something moving in the large tank in the corner of the room and something was moving in a rather large amount of weeds in the corner of the tank. The more Sera looked, whatever was in the tank came out from behind the masses of weeds it had been hiding in and it turned out to be a Grindylow. Dreadfully ugly creatures Sera personally found them to be and like any normal rational person she chose to stay away from them. "Remus, why do you have a Grindylow in a tank?"

"I thought I'd brighten up the room." Remus casually replied and Sera just rolled her eyes, Remus' sense of humour could be pretty odd at times and he would be the only person she knew who would say something that ludicrous about a grindylow brightening up a room. Sera knew from first had that one of the many things that Remus was most knowledgeable about was dark creatures.

"Of course you did, well when it breaks out of that tank and strangles you with those weird hands or better yet eats you don't say I didn't warn you…" Sera wearily said as she could have sworn the grindylow was eying her up and it unnerved Sera and yet she was rather amused by it all.

"I'll keep that in mind but your concern is noted." Remus began and Seraphina could see a small twinkle in his eyes, a sure sign that he was going into teacher mode. "But whilst we're on the subject of Grindylow who or what keep them–"

"Merpeople keep them as pets for some bizarre reason and oddly enough can domesticate them, although they are rather strange fellows to keep as pets. I'm much prefer my owl Raphael. You've taught me well Remus, perhaps even too well…" Sera quipped, knowing full well that Remus was going to ask, she had been right the entire time; he was an amazing teacher and the perfect fit for defence against the dark arts. Sera just hoped that Remus would survive the apparent jinx on the job which stopped professors holding the position as Professor of defence against the dark arts for more than a year

"You've always been my best student Seraphina, I told your parents that in a letter, when your mother sent me one to see how you were doing." Remus replied.

"Mum's worried. If she's not worrying that she's losing her temper about the ministry not catching Sirius yet. Dad reckons that if they don't find him soon mum will do it herself and she'd kill him for everything he's done. I used to think I pushed mum's bottoms but never as much from Sirius has and she hasn't seen him in twelve years." Sera woefully admit as she made her way to the window that just happened to overlook the black lake. Sera had a sneaking suspicion that her mother had been checking up on her whatever way she could. If she had been sending letters to Remus there was a chance that she was in contact with Cedric as well. "You didn't tell her about what happened on the train?"

"Of course not, you asked me not to." Remus replied and Sera nodded her head before going back to sit back in her chair, after the welcome back feast Sera had approached Remus and asked him not to tell her parents about what had happened. Sera knew that her mother would go ballistic, normally her mother was a very calm and rational person but anything to so with Sirius seemed to set her off these days. So hearing about a dementor coming on the Hogwarts Express to search for Sirius and coming across her daughter instead would not make Talitha Parry a very happy woman.

"I'm doing the right thing aren't I Remus? Not telling her what happened? It's just that mum is trying her hardest to protect me from all of this and I just want to protect her. Regulus' death hit her hard and then everything that happened with Sirius really hurt her and I don't want to make that pain worse for her…" Sera quietly stated.

"It's admirable how much both you and Talitha are willing to go to protect each other, you may look just like your mother but you also seem to have inherited her warm heart."

"Her warm black heart." Sera corrected, tossing out a joke to lighten the mood.

"Your birthday is not too far off now Seraphina, just under seven weeks away and you'll be turning sixteen." Remus noted and Sera couldn't but groan, she had the misfortune of being born on Halloween which wasn't as fun as one would expect. But there was nothing that Sera could do about it, although at least this year Remus would be around to celebrate with her as she was always at school during her birthday so she couldn't celebrate with her family until she went home for Christmas.

"I have Cedric's birthday in three days, I brought him some quidditch stuff so he'll be delighted. It'll probably occupy his attention for a good while given that the games will be starting soon and he's now become captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team." Sera quietly replied

"Must be proud."

"Dreadfully…"

"I can remember when your parents asked me to be your godfather, you were just this small infant wrapped up in a blanket with a fluff of dark hair on your head and now you in sit here in front of me, a beautiful young lady. Time seems to have gone so quickly…" Remus reminisced. "It seems like only yesterday that we were at Diagon Alley visiting Ollivander's to pick up your wand."

"I know." Sera replied with a small smile as glanced at her wand which was sitting on Remus' desk, it was a very dark brown colour, a more than reasonable length and a spiral going round the handle of the wand. Sera liked her

"As I recall correctly the first wand that Ollivander presented to you was the one your parents purchased and is sitting on my desk right now. The whole process should have taken less ten minutes but Ollivander seemed to be in a rather chatty mood and we ended up being in his shop for almost an hour. I believe he went about recalling the wands that I along with your parents had purchased from him. Then he couldn't stop talking about your wand, he seemed to be very proud of it…" Remus noted and Sera couldn't help but nod in agreement, Ollivander certainly knew his wandlore but she couldn't believe that the man could remember all the details of every wand he had ever sold. Then when he went about explaining it was something else entirely.

"Oh yes this will serve you very well Miss Parry, wands made out of cherry wood possess great power regardless of the core… But combine cherry wood with a dragonhearting is a truly powerful wand that should be given to a witch or wizard with exceptional self control and strength of mind. The wand chooses the witch or wizard Miss Parry and I believe this wand has chosen very well, daughter of Nathaniel and Talitha." Sera said doing a rather uncanny impersonation of Ollivander which made Remus chuckle. Doing impressions was one of the things that Sera had picked up as a kid and it had gotten her into a lot of trouble ever since.

"Rather fitting, you are a very talented witch Seraphina" Remus noted.

"You flatter me way too much, it probably explains why Snape thinks I'm so arrogant…"


	6. Chapter 6

The streets of Hogsmeade were bustling with noise and students as the first Hogsmeade weekend had finally arrived and Sera was one of the students eager to leave the castle for a few hours. The weather was starting to get colder as they were getting on to the last few months so Sera was wrapped up warm in a coat and a scarf. As much as she loved Hogwarts, Sera always thought it was nice to leave the castle for a while and walk around the beautiful Hogsmeade village. Especially since today was no ordinary day, it was Halloween and Sera's birthday so being allowed to spend part of her birthday outside the castle was very nice for her, given that she was with Cedric. They didn't get to spend much time with each other during the summer because of the whole Sirius situation so the two of them getting to spend real quality time with each other outside of the castle on today of all days meant a lot to Sera. They had visited several shops already a local attraction; the Shrieking Shack, apparently the most haunted place in Britain which prompted Sera to make a comment about her grandmother's house was much more scarier. After that Sera and Cedric just wondered around Hogsmeade as they were in no real rush to be heading back to the castle just yet, days like this were good for just enjoying each other's company outside the castle away from too many prying eyes.

"So how's the Quidditch going? You must be excited that the season is about to start." Sera questioned as her and Cedric walked hand in hand together, she knew that her boyfriend was going to be a bit preoccupied soon as the start of the inter house quidditch cup always started in the first week of November. Whilst Sera wasn't too interested in Quidditch like Cedric was, she supported him nonetheless as he was a pretty good player and this was his first year as Hufflepuff's captain so it was a very exciting time for him. Sera was playing the role of the supportive girlfriend.

"Good, we've got a strong team and I think we've got a pretty good chance for the cup this year." Cedric replied and Sera didn't doubt him for a second, she was well aware that her boyfriend was a very good quidditch player otherwise he wouldn't be on the team and the recently names new captain.

"I would come and watch you practice at your training sessions but I don't want to be accused of spying for the Gryffindor team but I promise I will be there to watch you first game and every other game although don't be surprised when Gryffindor win the cup." Sera teased with a knowing smile as when it came to the quidditch cup her loyalties did lay with her own house but she hoped that Hufflepuff did well enough in their games to come in second. This was a very important year for Cedric and she supported him, she just didn't support Hufflepuff as much as she did Gryffindor.

"Oh? You think Gryffindor have a chance of winning the cup…"

"I don't think they have a chance of winning the cup, I know they do."

"Your so cute when your trying to be funny." Cedric stated coming to a stop and pulling Sera towards him so she was standing right in front of him and Sera wrapped her arms around him and couldn't help but giggle. Right now she felt so happy and content that nothing could spoil today for Sera, things had been doing good for her in the last few weeks and now she was celebrating her birthday with one of her nearest and dearest. For the first time since she had returned to Hogwarts, Sera felt really good about herself and that things were finally falling into some sense of normalcy and everything wasn't revolving around Sirius for once in Sera's life for the last few months.

"Well you would know that best Mr. Diggory since you are the one who finds me so hilarious not to mention cute, your words not mine!" Sera quipped before leaning up and pressing a gentle kiss against his lips.

"Happy birthday Seraphina…" Cedric quietly replied.

"Get a room you two!"

"Hey guys…" Cedric began and glancing over her shoulder Sera saw her two favourite twins along with Lee, looking at her and Cedric with an amused grin on their faces. Sera groaned with mild amusement as she moved so she was standing right next to Cedric, with her arms still around his waist. Fred and George always had the perfect timing to interrupt something and they always did it on purpose. As much as Sera loved her friends, sometimes she did have the urge to hex them because they were kind of ruining a good moment which Sera and Cedric kind of had going on right now. But then again Sera was so used to the boys stunts that she could never stay too mad at them for long as she should have expected something like this given that this was Fred and George, so this was their weird way of saying happy birthday to her.

"Now boys don't be jealous, you call share me equally for the most part." Sera replied in a light and jokey manner.

"Having a good birthday?" Lee questioned and Sera nodded and gave her friends a bright smile, this birthday was actually turning out to be quite a good one.

"Oh I'm having a great one, received some very nice gifts from my parents and had a few nice pranks from my three best friends and now I was spending some quality time with the boyfriend." Sera explained, kind of subtly hinting to her friends to get out here without making it apparently obvious to Cedric.

"Well we can see where we're clearly not wanted, so we'll leave you two lover birds to it!" Fred said in an overly dramatic manner and Sera just rolled her eyes, her friends were certainly entertaining to say the least and no doubt they would get her back for this later.

"See you later Sera!" George quipped as the three boys walked off, snickering like school girls as they left and Sera couldn't help but roll her eyes. Those three boys were something else completely but they were her best friends and Sera completely adored them.

"Sorry about them, it's just that their–"

"Your friends, you don't have to explain anything to me Sera." Cedric replied, interrupting Sera before she could even finish her sentence. "Although I do get the feeling that they still don't like me after all this time."

"They don't hate you Ced, the boys just see you as competition and they are too silly and immature to move past all of that. It may not look like it but they don't have a real problem with you, they are just overly competitive. Trust me when I say that like you better than anyone in Slytherin. However I'll speak to them and see if I can't get them to behave a bit nicer but despite outward Ced, they know how much you mean to me." Sera assured Cedric as the last thing she wanted him to think that her best friends hated her, which was the furthest thing from the truth. It was just that Fred, George and Lee were all so into their quidditch that they only saw Cedric as the enemy. When Sera had announced that she was dating Cedric, they weren't too happy for the briefest moment until the conversation drifted back to some prank they were planning to pull on Filch.

"And just how much do I mean to you?" Cedric joked but Sera didn't laugh, she knew that Cedric was well aware of her feelings for him otherwise they wouldn't be here, they wouldn't be together.

"You really want to know?" Sera slowly asked as she looked into Cedric's grey eyes.

"Sera…"

"We've known each other since we were small kids but it's seems like it's been longer than that, like we've know each other forever. I can't imagine not having you here with me because that's where my heart belongs Cedric. It belongs to you and it always has done, ever since I can remember my heart has been yours. I'd spend a lifetime with you as I cannot live without you because that it how much you mean to me Cedric Diggory, you are in my heart always…" Sera truthfully admitted, not caring that she sound like such a soppy and romantic idiot like George would say. Cedric asking Sera how she felt about him may have been a joke but her response was totally serious. During the last few weeks Cedric had been practically been Sera's rock, he had taken this whole Sirius thing in his stride when he didn't need to. He stuck by her side and ignored what everyone else was saying to him about her, Cedric would sit with Sera when studying in the great hall to deter people from talking about her whilst she tried to work. It warmed Sera's heart knowing how much Cedric cared for her and the lengths he would go just to protect her. Sera watched as Cedric smiled at her, in way that made her heart beat faster than it probably should and she just stood there as Cedric slowly moved her closer to him before leaning down and kissing Sera.

"I have something for you, well it's your birthday present…" Cedric said a minute or so later after pulling away from Sera and going into his pocket and pulling out a small velvet box and holding out to Sera. Taking the box, Sera slowly opened in and saw that inside the box contained a beautiful silver heart shaped locket. Inside of the locket there were two small pictures, the first was of the two of them as kids with Sera having a big toothy minus a few teeth and the other picture was of the two of taken when they had first started dating, with their arms wrapped around with each other and broad grins. It showed how close the two of them had always been and how far they could come since they were kids all of these years ago.

"Oh Ced…" Sera quietly said in shock but mostly awe, she had never expected to receive something like this from Cedric. Sera was still in a bit of surprise when Cedric took the locket out of the box and planned the locket around Sera's neck. The locket was beautiful and very sentimental at the same time and it allowed Sera to carry a little bit of Cedric with her always. It was quiet possibly the most sweetest thing that Sera had ever received and not to mention the most romantic,

"You like it?"

"Like it? I love it Mr. Diggory."

* * *

Sheer madness. That's the only way that Sera could describe it. The whole day had been normal from when Sera had woken up to when she and Cedric had returned to the castle just before the feast giving Sera a quick opportunity to see Remus. Even then there was no indication that anything was wrong, even when Sera finally got to the feast. The food, the colour and quite simply just being around her friends, made Sera feel great and really in the mood to celebrate her birthday and she couldn't remember the last time she felt this happy. Today had been one of the best days and birthdays that Sera could actually remember. Apart from not having her parents with her, the day had been perfect for Sera. That was until when she left the great hall with Fred, George and Lee to go back to Gryffindor tower. But something was wrong as the corridor was jammed full of students and no one had any idea what was going on. Sera had no recollection of this ever happening during her time at Hogwarts, the Fat Lady had always been there guarding Gryffindor Tower.

"Oh my…" Lee murmured and Sera couldn't see what he was talking about as all she could hear was Fred and George's older brother Percy talking rather loudly about people getting out of his way because he was Head Boy. Then there was talk about getting Professor Dumbledore. Sera didn't understand until she saw it. The Fat Lady who guarded Gryffindor Tower was gone, vanished from her portrait which by the looks of it had been ripped to pieces ad there was pieces of canvas had been torn apart. Like some kind of animals had gone at it but that was impossible and yet somehow something had attacked the Fat Lady's portrait and judging by the looks of the ripped canvas, they had been very angry. Sera was so caught up in what she had seen that she hadn't noticed the appearance of Dumbledore.

"We need to find her," said Dumbledore, addressing McGonagall, Snape and Remus who were all making their way towards him no doubt because of the commotion and no doubt the seriousness of the situation. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" Peeves the poltergeist and a general pain in the arse to everyone he came across said as be bobbed over the crowd with a delighted look on his face. Peeves always loved chaos and could always been found at the centre of it. He kind of reminded Sera of Fred and George in a way given their love of pulling pranks on people except for the fact that the twins were actually lovable. Peeves on the other hand? Not so much.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked as everyone was waiting for a answer from the one person who seemed to have the answers but had a reputation for being very difficult and uncooperative.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sit. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful," Peeves replied in a rather cheerful manner and Sera just rolled her eyes, Peeves wasn't one for showing much sympathy for others given as he was enjoyed people's misery. So this whole situation with the Fat Lady was kind of like Peeves idea of a very good time. Which was made blatantly obvious by the one of Peeves voice which lacked any sympathy in the slightest. "Poor thing,"

"Did she say who did it?"

"Oh yes, Professorhead, he got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves flipped over and grinned at Dumbledore from between his own legs. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black just like that niece of his!"

Sirius Black. The moment that Peeves had announced that it was Sirius who had tried to break into Gryffindor Tower and had attacked the Fat Lady's portrait, Sera could feel all eyes on her. Especially since Peeves had made the point of pointing Sera out and reminding everyone that she was Sirius' niece. She could see that were start to panicking and pointing and whispering at her, thinking that she had something to do with this as things started to go to chaos. Sirius was here in the castle, he had somehow gotten past all the dementors who were guarding the outskirts of the castle and into the actual castle and all way to where the Fat Lady stood guard outside of Gryffindor Tower. Sera couldn't believe what she was hearing, it was like her worst nightmares had come to life. Everyone had assured her that Hogwarts was protected and there was no way that Sirius would be able to enter the castle but he had. The remains of the Fat Lady's portrait and what she had told Peeves was testament to the fact that everyone had been wrong. Sirius was here and lurking Merlin only knows where in the castle. Sera was so shocked that she didn't respond, she couldn't as she was unable to move. It was like her body was unable to function now and as she stood there with all eyes on her, including her professors Sera was starting to feel weak. She felt sick and lightheaded and she had been starting at the remains of the fat lady's portrait for so long she could have sworn that she was seeing spots in front of her eyes. Panic was fast setting in as Sera came to realize that Sirius was here in the castle. He had just tried to break into the place where she slept whilst she had been less than a few minutes away. Sera could feel her eyes spinning in the back of her head and she stumbled momentarily.

"Sera, are you okay?" Fred asked and Sera tried to open her mouth to try and explain but no matter how much she tried, the words just wouldn't come out of her mouth and she stumbled into George for a moment before taking a couple of steps back before she felt her body drop to the floor of her own accord. Her head was spinning so fast that the only thing that Sera had actually felt was when her head had hit the ground rather hard, everything else was quickly becoming blurred followed by dark and Sera had no idea what was happening to her.

"Sera! Talk to me, Seraphina I need to know that you're okay… "

Remus? Sera could of thought that she could hear him beside her but she wasn't too sure as everything was fading away into the darkness. Sera couldn't respond, she had no strength in the slightest and as much as she tried to fight it, her mind was just plagued with the thoughts of Sirius being here in the castle. Until finally everything went dark.


	7. Chapter 7

Sera could feel the intensity of a bright light on her face and wearily she opened her eyes to somewhat make out a bright light. Everything was so fuzzy and Sera felt so groggy not to mention she had a killer headache which she had no idea where it had come from. All Sera knew was that her head hurt terribly and she had no idea where she was, the last thing she could remember was being at the feast. But clearly something had happened between then and Sera waking up, however she just couldn't remember anything from that period of time at the moment. Sera could feel someone squeezing her hand and she could hear someone trying to speak to her but Sera couldn't make out the words as her head was ringing and her vision was still a bit blurry. Closing her eyes for a briefest second Sera opened them again and this time things were slightly clearer Sera realized that she was in the hospital wing, it had been years since she had been sent to the hospital wing. Sera could feel someone squeezing her hand and glancing over to her left Sera could see her parents. Both of them had worried looks on their faces and Sera didn't understand why they were here and still couldn't make out anything they were saying to her. It took a few moments but eventually Sera a bit better and so she attempted to sit up with help from her father. Something must have been seriously wrong if both of Sera's parents were here. But they weren't alone as both Professors McGonagall and Snape were also there.

"Easy Sera, take it easy sweetheart." Nathaniel soflty said in a reassuring manner.

"W-What happened? Why am I here in the hospital wing?" Sera asked as she was surprised to see so many people at her bedside, especially Professor Snape.

"You fainted and took quite a hit on the head Sera after what happened." Talitha replied and Sera had no idea what her mother was talking about, clearly something had happened and it was bad enough that it caused Sera to faint. Not to mention it explained why her head was throbbing. Sera was missing something here and it was important enough to warrant her parents coming to Hogwarts at such short notice in the evening.

"What happened mom?" Sera couldn't help but ask and she couldn't help but notice the dark looks that her parents shared with each other not to mention how Professor McGonagall looked down whilst Snape was his usual aloof self. Now Sera knew something was really wrong.

"Miss Parry are you telling us you don't remember anything from today?" McGonagall asked and Sera winched in pain as she tried to think, clearly she had forgotten something that happened not too long along but Sera couldn't remember. Just trying to remember what she couldn't seem to remember at the moment was causing he head to hurt, no doubt she had taken a rather hard hit to the head.

"I remember today, I went to Hogsmeade and ran some errands amongst other stuff but Professor I don't remember anything from when I left the great hall until now. It's all a bit of a blank right now, why? What happened…" Sera admitted.

"The Fat Lady was attacked tonight Seraphina, someone tried to force her into Gryffindor Tower and when she would not grant access to them, the assailant attacked her portrait and she soon fled. The attack on the Fat Lady was discovered shortly after the feast had ended when you along with several others of Gryffindor tried to return to Gryffindor Tower. It was only when Professors Dumbledor, Snape, Lupin and myself arrived that we found what really happened. You fainted mere moments after Peeves revealed who was responsible for the attack…" McGonagall revealed and Sera was actually gobsmacked as she couldn't believe what she was hearing but soon enough it became apparent that there was something that McGonagall wasn't telling her. Like she wanted Sera to figure it out and it took a few moments for Sera to figure out what she was missing. Sera's parents being here just because she had fainted was very unusual, parents generally didn't come to check on their children when they ended up in the hospital wing. There had to be something else behind this and Sera knew that there was one thing that would force her parents to come all this way late at night and it was Sirius.

"Sirius…" Sera breathed as realization finally hit her, it had to be Sirius as it was the only possible explanation that made sense. "It was him, wasn't it? Sirius was the one who attacked The Fat Lady's portrait…"

"Yes." Snape answered when it became apparent that no one else was going to answer and Sera couldn't help but pull her knees up to her chest. Sirius was in Hogwarts, the place that everyone said was the safest place to be. Hogwarts was protected by enchantments and dementors along with anti-apparition jinxes yet he was able to waltz in just like he managed to waltz out of Azkaban undetected.

"Seraphina, it's going to be okay." Talitha attempted to assure her daughter but Sera just shook her head, despite how much it caused her to wince in pain. It was going to be okay as everything was far from okay given that Sirius was now here.

"How? He's in the castle mum! Siirus could be anywhere and clearly he's not here to stop by and wish me happy birthday! Things are not okay mum!" Sera screeched as she ran her hands through her hair, Sera's head was spinning more than ever.

"The castle is being searched top to bottom, we'll find Black unless he had some assistance getting inside the castle." Snape said and Sera didn't miss his veiled insinuation that somehow Remus was involved in this and Sera opened her mouth to dispute this. As there was no way that Remus was involved in any of this, it was impossible. But before Sera could even dispute this, her mother beat her to it.

"Severus, I am eternally gratefully to you for informing Nathaniel and I of what happened tonight but if you think Remus had anything to do with this then you must be stark raving mad. Remus would never help Sirius, just like the rest of us he stopped having anything to do with my brother when Sirius was arrested. Most importantly Remus would never do anything to jeopardise the safety of my daughter, he would die before he let anything happen to Seraphina. So the idea of Remus letting Sirius within a 100 feet of anywhere of Seraphina is impossible!" Talitha spat dismissing the idea in it's entirety and Snape just said nothing as his took his leave. Despite his obvious distaste for Sera, Snape seem to get on with Sera's mother and actually respected Talitha Parry in some capacity.

"What's happened? I mean with the Fat Lady and everyone else…" Sera questioned as if Sirius was in the castle then it was too dangerous for anyone to walking around the castle. Then with the Fat Lady missing at the moment, there was no one to guard the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.

"The rest of the staff are searching for the Fat Lady whilst searching for Sirius Black and all students are in the great hall and well remain there until we're satisfied that Sirius is no longer in the castle." McGonagall explained and Sera took that to mean that everyone was going to be sleeping in the great hall whilst she was stuck in here.

"Cedric… He'll be worried." Sera quietly murmured.

"Professor Dumbledore himself has spoken to Mr. Diggory to let him know about your situation and I will personally let him know that you're awake Miss Parry." McGonagall stated and a tiny bit of Sera felt better as she had lots of things going through her mind and now she didn't have to be worrying about Cedric worrying about her because of what had happened and him hearing stories from other people. Sera already presumed that people were going to think that she had some role to play in all of this.

"Thank you."

"Your okay Seraphina." Nathaniel said as his wife squeezed their daughter's hand in a sign of reassurance.

"You said I'd be safe here b-but I'm not, Sirius is here god knows where in the castle and he can come and go as he pleases. Azkaban and Hogwarts are supposed to be two of the most secure places in Britain and yet Sirius manages to walk in and out of them both like it's nothing. Sirius was less than a hundred yards from where I sleep every night and your telling me that I'm okay. Well I am not okay, I am far from okay and I haven't been okay since the day Sirius escaped. I worry all the time about why Sirius has escaped and it's clear that the reason something to do with Hogwarts and maybe me, even the dementors seem to think so too." Sera spat as her father stroked the top of her head, no amount of living reassurance was going to change how angry and scared Sera was. She know felt that there was no where safe anymore. It was like Sirius could walk through walls.

"Dementors? What are you talking about?" Talitha demanded and Sera realized that she said something that she should have and she looked away from her mother because Sera wasn't going to answer that. "Minerva, what is Seraphina talking about?"

"There was an incident on the Hogwarts Express at the start of term, one of the dementors boarded the train and went in to one of the train compartments in it's attempt to look for Sirius and Seraphina was one of the students in that particular compartment." McGonagall revealed and looking up Sera could see that her mother was close to losing her temper.

"Sera came face to face with a dementors and no one thought to tell me this? Albus assured me in person days before we went to Kings Cross that Seraphina would be fine and now I find out about this? Minerva if the school can't keep my daughter a safe distance away from a dementors who aren't even supposed to be anywhere near the students then who are supposed to keep all the children safe from my brother?" Talitha demanded in sheer anger and Sera couldn't help but wince, her mother had one of the worst tempers that Sera had ever come across. Which is why she made a habit of avoiding it.

"Tali…" Nathaniel began in a attempt to calm down his rather angry not to mention volatile wife but Talitha Black, seemed to be in no mood to be calmed down and think rationally.

"Not now Nathaniel–"

"–Yes now Talitha." Nathaniel interrupted before turning his attention back to his daughter. "Sera this is really important, I need to know who else was with you in that compartment when the dementors enter."

"Why does that matter? The dementors were only there because of Sirius and I was the only one who shares similar physical features with him because of the family resemblance. If I hadn't been there, the dementor wouldn't have come in, it had nothing to do with the fact that Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Harry and Neville were with me." Sera stated but her parents just shared a look with each other.

"Harry? As in Harry Potter?" Nathaniel questioned.

"Yes, why does that even matter?" Sera demanded but no one said anything, all three adults just looked at each other and Sera knew that she was missing a vital piece of the puzzle here. "What are you not telling me?"

"We have to tell her."

"Nathaniel you can't be serious…" McGonagall said in a hushed manner and now Sera was getting even more the agitated as apparently there was something being kept from her and it had something to do with why it was important to know that Harry had been in the same compartment with her when the dementor had paid her a little scary visit. Whatever this big secret was it was apparent that McGonagall knew and Sera was certain that if her Head of house knew then there was a good chance that both Remus and Professor Dumbledore knew as Sera's parents were on first name basis with them all including Professor Snape.

"Nate's right Minerva, she needs to know the truth, it's too dangerous Seraphina not knowing anymore. Just look at her Minerva, it's my daughter's sixteenth birthday and here she is the hospital wing scared witless that her uncle is coming after her. I can't believe this but we all know that Sirius could try and harm her if she wanted to, he has after all shown that he's not afraid to hurt the people closest to him." Talitha wearily replied and now Sera was at a real loss.

"What are you talking about!" Sera loudly demanded.

"Sirius isn't after you Sera, at least we don't think so but that does not mean that you may not be in danger." Nathaniel quietly said.

"Seraphina, you know that Remus and Sirius were friends back them stemming from their time at Hogwarts, the two of them were best friends along with James Potter and Peter Pettigrew." Talitha began and straight away Sera recognized the names Potter and Pettigrew, everyone knew who James potter was as he had been Harry's father and killed along with his wife by you know who, the night of Halloween in 1981. The same day that Sera had turned four. She also knew of Peter Pettigrew as he was one of the reasons that Sirius had been sent to prison. Sirius had killed Pettigrew along with a dozen muggles, apparently all that was left of Pettigrew was his pinky finger.

"Potter and Pettigrew, no way…" Sera slowly said as she had never heard her parents, let alone Remus mentioning that he had been friends with Peter Pettigrew or James Potter. Sera was certain that she would have remembered something like that if Remus had told her. "You have to be mistaken…"

"Your mother is not mistaken Miss Parry, the four of them were in Gryffindor just like you and they were inseparable, always running around together and as close as could be. Even after graduation, when James Potter married Lily Evans, Sirius was James' best man. Sirius was also names Harry's godfather." McGonagall stated and Sera had to swallow a huge lump in her throat because of what she was hearing. Harry was Sirius' godson, her uncle had been best friends with her friends father along with a man who he would end up killing. It was all too much but Sera knew that this story wasn't over and it most likely didn't have a happy ending given where they were now.

"Back then the Potter's had been marked for death by the dark lord and as such they had to go into hiding, Sirius was made their secret keeper and only he knew where they were and only he could reveal their location and he did. Sirius told the dark lord where the Potters were and we all know what happened next." Talitha wearily revealed.

"–Wait? Sirius was one of them? I thought it was only Uncle Regulus who was a death eater." Sera stammered as she was struggling to understand all of this, if what her parents along with McGonagall were saying was true, it meant that Sirius Black, her uncle was responsible for the murders of James and Lily Potter. Because of him, one of her friends had been an orphan all this time. Sera felt sick to her stomach. Her family had been keeping all these secrets to from her for all these years and Sera couldn't believe it, she knew that her mother's side of the family had done some pretty bad things but what Sirius had done to the Potters? Without a doubt it was the worst thing for someone to possible to do. Sirius was their friend and he betrayed them, knowing full well that they would be killed.

"We all did Sera, none of us foresaw Sirius' betrayal, none of us knew that Sirius had turned to the dark arts until after what he had done. Peter, as distraught as he was tracked Sirius down and confronted him about what he had done and Sirius killed him right there and then along with those twelve muggles." Nathaniel explained and soon enough the room fell silent although Sera was sure everyone could hear her thoughts as they were so bloody loud.

"W-Why didn't you tell me?" Sera eventually asked, her voice crackling as she spoke every single word.

"We were doing this to protect Seraphina." Talitha began.

"Protecting me? You thought you were protecting me? All this time you let me think that Sirius was coming after me. I have been scared out of my mind for months thinking that Sirius was coming after us! I deserved to know the truth, that you weren't sure he was coming after me. I have been going through hell the last couple weeks and now I wish I was still in that hell! I now have to life with all of this! Harry is my friend and I know I have to live with the fact that because of Sirius he's parents were murdered!" Sera yelled as she was furious with everyone for keeping this secret with her.

"You can't tell Harry, you can't tell him Seraphina."

"Get out! All of you get out now!" Sera screamed at the top of her lungs, she no longer wanted to see any of them let alone speak to them so she kept screaming until Madam Pomfrey came and kicked McGonagall out along with Sera's parents out. Moments after they were gone Sera noticed that her hands were violently shaking and she was struggling for breath. This was all too much, not to mention it had been without a doubt the worst birthday ever.


	8. Chapter 8

Sera had spent the entire night crying, unable to process all the news that she had received. It was hard to believe that Sirius had managed to get past the dementors and into the castle and attempt to break into Gryffindor Tower. But the news that Sirius had betrayed the Potters, all the rest of his friends and his family was something else entirely, the news had been devastating and a part of Sera was still numb with shock. She had no idea how she would ever face Harry again knowing that she was related to the man who had delivered his parents to the dark lord. All night that was running through Sera's mind and she could barely stop crying as the whole thing was so painful. If Sera got any real sleep it was about only two hours and when morning came, Sera had overheard Madam Pomfrey tell Professor Dumbledore that Sera was in no fit state to return to classes today, let alone seeing any visitors. The whole day Sera had never felt so alone, her parents along with Remus had lying to her for most of her life regardless whether it was intentional or not. Sera was too angry to talk any of them and there was no one else she could really talk to as Sera couldn't tell anyone any of this. There was no way in hell she could tell anyone this, especially Cedric. He had been very supportive with this whole Sirius thing but Sera knew she'd be asking too much of him if she told him this and asked Cedric to keep the secret. Sera had spent most of the day in the hospital wing until late in the afternoon when Madam Pomfrey was satisfied Sera was well enough to leave the hospital wing.

There were butterflies in Sera's stomach as she slowly walked out of the hospital wing, for the last 18 hours she had no idea what had been going on outside of the hospital wing. But Sera had an imagination and she assumed the stories about Sirius and no doubt her apparent involvement had spread like wildfire. Sera was so tired, both physically and mentally. It had been a very long a very long 36 hours as well as a long few months and Sera just wanted it all to be over. Weary and very much tired Sera was surprised when she saw Cedric along with Lee and both Fred and George waiting for her.

"Oh Sera…" Cedric began and given the look on his face, Cedric was clearly taken back by her appearance no doubt because of her bloodshot eyes and puffy eyes, not forgetting the red nose Sera tended to get when she had been crying for a while.

"I know I look horrendous." Sera quipped in alight manner trying to lighten the mood but it was kind of hard too given what had happened yesterday.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, just a bit of a headache and tired to be honest it was a very long night, after the whole fainting thing and then I had to deal with my parents, it's all been very embarrassing…" Sera stated in a nonchalant manner as she needed to play things off, make them seem less bad then they actually were. Sera couldn't have her friends or Cedric know that there was more to this entire thing than Sera fainting because of the news.

"Your parents came?" George questioned in surprise and Sera slowly nodded as Cedric walked over to her and placed an arm around Sera's waist.

"I woke up and they were there, apparently one of the Professors let them know what happened and my mother isn't too thrilled about it all. There were frayed tempers and voices were raised, my mum is furious about everything and then finding out about the dementor incident. I think she's at the point where if the ministry don't find Sirius soon then she'll hunt him down herself, kill him and mount his head somewhere for the entire wizarding world to see." Sera grimly replied, feeding her friends a somewhat half truthful retelling of what happened last night, leaving out that she was the one who was doing most of the yelling last night.

"Can hardly blame her…" Lee noted.

"So how bad is it?" Sera asked as she let go off Cedric and looked over at her friends, as Sera knew that all three of them probably had an idea of what was being whispered along the castle hallways. Sera wasn't stupid, she knew that the entire castle was no doubt talking about Sirius and the theories about how he got into the castle was spreading like wildfire. Sera needed to know how bad this was so she could prepare herself for what was to come as things weren't going to be easy for the next few days.

"There's bad and then there is horrifically bad which is where you stand at the moment Sera. The search of the castle came up empty and pretty much everyone is convinced that you are behind what happened last night, we overheard a couple of second years this morning saying that you had smuggled Sirius in through the Chamber of Secrets." Fred announced and Sera couldn't help but snort in amusement as that was unbelievable. But then Sera was reminded of something, the Chamber of Secrets was created by Salazar Slytherin to hide his basilisk and could only be open by his heir who just so happened to be the dark lord. The same person who Sirius had turned over the Potters to.

"That's what we said before accidently telling everyone that if you did sneak Sirius into the castle then you would have done it in a much more creative and imaginative way. The Chamber of Secrets is so late year…" George added and Sera couldn't help but smile.

"You guys do know I didn't have anything to do with this, right?" Sera questioned in a joking manner, knowing full well that her friends had her back.

"Of course we do!"

"Anything else I need to know? Except for the fact that everyone thinks that I've been assisting my mass murderer uncle whose on the run and helped him sneak into the castle undetected." Sera questioned.

"Well Snape is being the ever most grumpy git, handing out detentions like there is no tomorrow and we took a nap during history of magic which was quite nice. The Fat Lady has been found and until her portrait is fixed we have to put up with Sir Cadogan." Lee explained and Sara just rolled her eyes, Sir Cadogan was kind of a pain in the ass, things were never as simple as giving the password to him and gaining entry. The portrait had a very short attention span and got preoccupied with challenging people to duels.

"Dear lord, that's going to be fun…" Sera replied in a rather dry manner as she rubbed the top of her head.

"That looks like it hurts." Cedric said as he gazed over to the two inch cut that was on Sera's forehead.

"I wouldn't be surprised, Sera took a big hit to the ground." George stated and Sear just shrugged her shoulders, she still couldn't remember what had happed after she left the great hall prior to when she woke up in the hospital wing. Sera doubted she ever would remember but that wasn't really too much of a concern for her right now as she had other things on her mind.

"Well we had better head of to the Quidditch pitch for training, but we'll catch you at dinner Sera, catch you later Cedric!" Fred said and Sera watched as the twins along with Lee gave her a friendly wave before taking off, leaving her with Cedric.

"They seemed to have warmed up to you…" Sera couldn't help but notice as her friends seemed to be on a much more friendlier terms with Cedric then they had previously been before.

"When we were all summoned to the great hall most of us didn't have any idea what was going on but then we started hearing things from other Gryffindors. I overheard what had happened to the Fat Lady's portrait and then murmurings off your name, someone told me that you had collapsed. At first I thought it was just idle gossip because Sirius but then I realized that I couldn't see you anywhere in the great hall and anyone I asked hadn't seen you either. Then the twins found me, they explained what had happened and how Professor Lupin took you to the hospital wing. Dumbledore spoke to me as well and McGonagall came and found me late last night to tell me that you had woken up and were going to be kept in overnight as least." Cedric explained.

"Oh."

"Do you remember anything from last night?"

Sera shook her head. "Not really, I had no idea how I ended up in the hospital wing until Professor McGonagall had explained last nights events to me when I woke up. But that's the least of my problems right not…"

"They didn't find any trace of Sirius in the castle so he's probably long gone Sera, I doubt Sirius would even come back anyway. Everyone's on guard now and the whole castle is practically on lockdown right now. It'll be okay Sera and at least you got to see your parents which is something to feel okay…" Cedric stated but Sera was only half listening as she was no longer worried that Sirius would come and murder her in her own bed. Sera was now aware that Sirius was after another and the reasons as to why Sirius was after Harry. Just thinking about it sent shivers down Sera's back.

"But it won't be, everything is far from okay and don't get me started on my parents, all the damage that the two of them have caused me last night…" Sera wearily said.

"Seraphina, am I missing something? Does this have something to so with why you look like you've been crying all night and day?" Cedric asked and Sera sighed. "Whatever it is you can tell me Sera, you can tell me anything."

"I can't tell you. I know I can tell you anything but this thing I can't tell you Cedric and it's not because I don't trust you. It's complicated and its better if you don't know what is and trust me when I say that because now I know, I don't even want to know. I want to tell you this b-because my heart is aching over it but I can't burden you with this. It's too much for anyone to bare and I want to protct you from this. I'm just so tried Cedric but everyone keeps telling me to be strong and that everything will be okay but I-I really don't know anymore…" Sera admitted as she took a deep breath as she fought the urge to cry, even though she was sure she had cried so much in the last several hours that she had no more tears left. But Sera didn't want to take the chance as it had been really tough on her emotionally. Sera just seemed at a complete and utter loss, she didn't know how to really explain how she felt so instead she just allowed Cedric pull her into a warm and comforting hug, something that she could have done with last night.

"I am so sorry that I wasn't there with you yesterday and that I couldn't be here until now Seraphina. I can only imagine how terrified you must have been yesterday but I won't let anything happen to you at all I promise." Cedric assured Sera in a comforting manner and Sera wanted to believe Cedric, she really did but she wasn't sure what the hell she believed in anymore. Everything had literally changed overnight and she was still trying to adjust.

"Y-You are the only normal thing that I have in my messed up life right now and you will never know how much you being here by my side when I need you means to me." Sera sniffled, Cedric had been her rock over the last months and Sera knew she was going to have to repay for everything he had been doing for her. Cedric was carrying the burden of being her boyfriend and everything that came with it, including the pointing and whispering about Sirius. Not to mention people trying to tell Cedric to ditch Sera because she was a Black. Sera was very much aware of those ones unlike Cedric who just outright ignored them.

"I will be here for you as long as you need me Seraphina." Cedric assured Sera as he wiped away her tears and not long after the two of them left to find somewhere quiet to go and study, Sera wasn't really up for seeing much people at the moment and she couldn't go back to Gryffindor Tower as she had forgotten to get the password from the twins. However Sera and Cedric didn't get to find somewhere to and study as once they reached the grand staircase Sera realized that there was something that she had to do and so she diverted to the third floor. More specifically outside an office on the second floor which was the defence against the dark professor's office was. "Sera, what are we doing here?"

"Wait out here, this won't take long." Sera instructed as she knocked on the door and waited for a response. Sera knew Remus would be in here as she knew what time of the mouth it was, which meant he was starting to retreat and hole himself up as the full moon was soon approaching. So his office was one of the few places that he would be.

"Come in." Remus called out and Sera glanced over at Cedric for one last time before taking a deep breath and walking into the office and shutting the door straight behind her. "Seraphina, it's nice to see you up and about again! Would you like some tea?"

"No thank you." Sera politely declined, also refusing Remus' invitation to sit down as well, she had intention for staying long. She just wanted to say what she needed to say and then leave.

"How are you feeling?"

"Depends who you ask, Madam Pomfrey would say that I'm fine and just need to take it easy. Whereas I'd beg to differ, along with my parents but I'm assuming you already know that Remus." Sera bluntly put, she was too mad to be polite and going through niceties and small talk. But she did notice that Remus was starting to look a lot older than he usually did, it was something that tended to happen when the full moon was fast approaching. Sera noted that she had to remember where she stashed her supply of honeydukes chocolate for when the full moon was over for Remus when he recovered. Sera was very pissed off with him but that didn't mean that she would stop caring for him when he needed her the most. She would take care of Remus but be very angry with him at the same time.

"Your mad Seraphina and you have every right to be angry with all of us."

"You lied to me Remus, just like mum and dad but in a worse way. I always knew mum and dad never told me the whole truth about Sirius but I trusted you to always be honest with me, yet you've been lying to me for the last twelve years Remus. Did ever cross your mind to ever tell me? Especially when I came home from school two years ago and told you all that I had met Harry Potter? Or when Sirius had first escaped? Or any other time after that?" Sera demanded as Remus was the person who Sera trusted most in the world, so finding out that he had kept this secret from her all this time felt like a grave betrayal. Regardless of what he may or may not say to try and justify his reasons for lying, Sera was still upset that he had gone about lying to her for so many years.

"Seraphina, I never meant to lie to you but I, along with your parents were just trying to protect you. We didn't want to burden you with the knowledge of what really happened–" Remus attempted to explained but Sera wasn't in the mood to hear him try to justify all the secrets, at least right now as she was tired and extremely emotional.

"–You know what? I don't even want to talk about it. I'm only here because I need a favour and you're the only person I know who can get this for me without asking a million and one questions. Especially after this, it's the least you could do Remus."

"What do you need?" Remus asked after a moment.

"I need a boggart, I know you used one in your classes with the third years not long after term started and I'm certain that you can try and find another one, if you don't already have one lurking around in this office somewhere." Sera said as she looked over to the tank where the creepy grindylow was still lurking about.

"Why?"

"I have gone through the most scary and terrifying night of my life Remus, I couldn't sleep knowing what Sirius had done and that he was somewhere in the castle. I need to stop being scared. I don't want to spend the rest of my time constantly looking over my shoulder and not sleeping because I'm scared that Sirius is lurking over my shoulder or trying to break into Gryffindor Tower. I'll be scared of anything else, just not that anymore and so I need to take care of it and short of the man himself offering himself up, I need a boggart to take on Sirius' appearance unless you know any metamorpghmagi and I'd rather not ask my cousin Dora." Sera replied in a rather dismissive manner, sure it was rude of her but she was pissed off and Remus was asking questions when Sera had asked him not to.

"It'll have to be for next week." Remus quietly said referring how he wouldn't be around for the days leading up to the full moon and a day or two after that. Sera picked up on that straight away as she knew the drill, she had known Remus was a werewolf since she was a small child and at the age of sixteen she was well versed in werewolf and lycanthropy lore.

"I can wait, goodbye Professor Lupin."


End file.
